256 THE RED DEER OF EXMOOR. 



size, standing about 25 inches and often weighing 

 individually from six to eight stone ; very deep-toned 

 and heavy hung ; the only kennel of the kind in 

 Ireland, and so tender is the breed as to make it 

 almost impossible to be kept up, and could only be 

 done in that very fertile part of the country which is 

 designated the Golden Vein.'' A picture of these 

 hounds running a stag hangs in the dining-room at 

 Carass, the home in Limerick of Sir David Roche, 

 Bart. 



The task of keeping up on Exmoor thirty couple 

 of the right sort, which was the strength of the pack 

 in those days, must have been immense, for it is 

 impossible to believe that more than, at the outside, 

 60 per cent, would attain the minimum standard of 

 26 inches laid down by Dr. Collyns, and fewer still 

 the mean of 27 inches, while only a few giants can ever 

 have grown to 28 inches. The average height of the 

 present pack is about 25 inches. It is a strain on one's 

 belief to imagine a pack averaging 27 inches, and if 

 such a pack, with the same quality, dash, and drive 

 as the present pack, were put in the field, they would 

 show no sport ; for no deer could stand up before 

 them and no horse could live with them. 



It is true that the late Lord Wolverton for some 

 years hunted a pack of bloodhounds in Dorsetshire 

 which are said to have averaged 27 inches, but 

 opinions differ as to their pace. The writer never 

 saw them, but as a boy he met many who had been 

 out with them. Sometimes they seem to have run 



