AND STIRLINGSHIRE HUNT 



as the bottom of Cockleroi, he turned to the 

 right, and running over the fine grass country of 

 B'ormie, he never varied a point till he reached 

 Riccarton wood/ where he was so closely pressed 

 by the gallant pack, that he was obliged once 

 more to take the open country. He broke away 

 toward the Binny craig, but leaving it to his 

 right, he made for the badger earths" where he 

 was twice viewed, dead beat, and here he would 

 have been killed, had the scent at all served on 

 the ploughed land. Getting away again, he 

 crossed the Linlithgow road, ran through the 

 Champfleurie grounds as far as the Union canal ; 

 here he turned round and came back to Champ- 

 fleurie, where he went to ground in a drain at the 

 bottom of the garden, — thus completing one of the 

 finest runs ever seen with hounds, — the extent of 

 the country, point-blank, not being less then 14 

 miles, and, taking the run, certainly not less than 

 20 miles. Never did hounds do their duty better : 

 it was a fine finish to the season. Too much 

 praise cannot be given to Captain Baird for having 

 in so short a time brought his hounds to so high a 

 state of perfection." ^ 



Although the Lothian and R.A.L.D.S. packs had 

 to some extent filled the place of the Linlithgow 

 and Stirlingshire during the seasons which followed 

 the sale of the hounds in 1814, there had evidently 

 existed in the country, throughout this period, a 



* Longmuir covert. ' On Nancy's hill. 



3 'Annals of Sporting and Fancy Gazette,' May 1824. 



85 



