io8 "bay" middleton. 



became a bit of "a thorn in the side" of Masters and 

 Committee. Whilst it must be admitted that when pheas- 

 ants are first liberated in the woods a few may fall a prey to 

 a vixen and her litter of cubs, as the birds soon learn to 

 take to the branches, the toll exacted by the fox is not so 

 very considerable after all. Still it can hardly be supposed 

 that adherents of the chase and votaries of the gun view 

 matters in quite the same light, or that their sentiments can 

 be identical ; for whereas the one desires to see Master 

 Reynard increase and multiply ; the other aims at a good 

 Head of Game and desires his coverts undisturbed. 

 Nevertheless, by the cultivation of mutual good-will and 

 neighbourly regard, interests that might otherwise become 

 " clashing," are usually happily reconciled, as whenever an 

 owner preserves extensively, he has merely to request that 

 his coverts shall not be drawn during the earlier part of 

 the hunting season, for his wishes to be scrupulously 

 observed ; the Master will try in the New year to make up 

 for time lost in the Old, and wherever such consideration is 

 shown there will seldom be any grounds for unpleasantness. 



Noted Pilots. — Cross=Country Riders. — 

 Yeoman Farmers. 



Amongst cross-country riders, whether judged by his 

 performances in the Shires or in Ireland, most hunting men 

 will be prepared to concede a foremost place to Captain 

 " Bay " Middleton. Although the writer was not personally 

 acquainted with the gallant Captain, they possessed a 

 mutual friend in Ireland, who the Captain used to visit 

 and from whom he purchased many of his best mounts. 

 Captain Middleton used to tell his friend that an Irish 

 horse, that will just tip a stone wall and seem to spring 

 a second time whilst in the act, usually jumps so high and 

 short as to require at least a season in the Shires to get 

 accustomed to the greater width of fence and ditch. 



