CUB HUNTING IN '96 9I 



she particularly distino-uished herself in one of the best days of 

 a good season (March 13th, '96), when hounds ran from near 

 Thaxted, close to Ashdon, almost into Cambridgeshire, in 

 thirty-seven minutes ; and in the afternoon of the same day from 

 Canfield Hart through Hallingbury to Thorley in Herts, in fifty 

 minutes, carrying her owner right to the front in both runs. 

 She afterwards hacked home as fresh as paint. 



One labours under a disadvantage writing notes on hunting some hun- 

 dred miles from the scene of operations, with only the music of the sad sea 

 wave instead of the melodious cry of hounds ringing in your ears ; but facts 

 are facts, whether they reach one through the medium of the post or by the 

 more rapid communication of the electric wires. Lord Rookwood, we 

 believe, was not at home when the first visit this season was paid to the 

 Down Hall coverts on Saturday last, and the day marked by killing a brace 

 of Moor Hall cubs after some very pretty hound work. 



The six o'clock meet at Abridge on Monday, the 14th, was well attended, 

 particularly by the rising generation, one of Mr. F. Green's sons obtaining 

 the mask, which was secured by Bailey out of a very strong litter of cubs 

 found in Col. Lockwood's coverts. 



To the names of those already mentioned as having been duly presented 

 this season at Bailey's drawing-rooms we may add the gallant Colonel's. 

 We only recognise one Colonel with the Essex now, and he sine dithio — we 

 haven't quite forgotten all our Latin — the most popular man in the county. 

 Mr. Howel J. Price (has he forsaken the golf links ?), Mr. H. Sworder and 

 his two boys, Miss Waters, Miss Dorothy Sewell, and Mr. Saward, of Patch 

 Park. The ground should be getting soft enough for taking leps. We 

 wonder whether any leps have been taken. 



"The Best Cub-Hunting Season we have had for Ten or Eleven 

 Years," we expected to hear from the lips of all those who had been seizing 

 Time by the forelock, conditioning themselves and their hunters, and enjoy- 

 ing the sweets of October sports. But, alas ! no such dictum, no such 

 cheery news has been forthcoming, for in spite of the wet autumn, the 

 ground reeking with moisture, and a capital show of cubs in most parts of 

 the country, very few runs worth recording have taken place. We have 

 only heard of three, and of these none have been in the home, or grass, 

 country. How is this ? is naturally asked, if not so readily answered. We 

 would hazard the opinion in all modesty, without consulting any experts, 

 that it is a question of coverts not being thrown open until they have been 

 shot through, and that number increases yearly, and with that the difficulty 

 of finding suitable ground for drilling young hounds naturally follows. 



That Bailey has been so successful with this season's entry (141 couples) 

 is a matter of no small congratulation. Certainly no hounds have ever 

 appeared in better condition or more fit to go than the eighteen couple of 

 dog hounds over which we were privileged to cast our eye on the opening 

 day of the season 1896-97, at the usual trysting-place of Matching, where 

 from east, west, north and south, the country side had sent its quota in spite 

 of a steady downpour of rain and a keen, cutting wind from the east. 



No account of a Matching Green meet would be complete without some 

 attempt to index those present, or satisfactory without apology to the many 

 whose familiar figures escape the speaker's eye. First and foremost the 

 Masters, Mr. E. S. Bowlby and Mr. Loftus Arkwright — the former just back 

 from Scotland, where he has had such a successful season among the stags, 

 grassing on one occasion a fine 14-pointer — Mrs. Bowlby, Mrs. Arkwright, 



