AND STIRLINGSHIRE HUNT 



" coming events cast their shadows before," and 

 this day's work was but an omen of the good 

 sport which was to follow. 



In the immediately succeeding season, Living- 

 stone wood held a fox which provided two capital 

 runs. The first of these occurred on the 14th of 

 November (1833), when hounds ran straight to 

 Dechmont at racing pace, crossed the Edinburgh 

 and Bathgate road, and bending to the left, 

 pointed for the Bathgate hills, — one of the highest 

 points of which, the Knock, was reached in twenty- 

 five minutes time. There, a slight check occurred 

 owing to the fox having been headed, but the line 

 being recovered, they turned sharp south and, 

 continuing at the same pace, pointed for the low 

 country, recrossed the Edinburgh and Bathgate 

 road about three miles to the west of the place 

 at which they had first crossed it, and ran their 

 fox to ground at the Inch. The distance as the 

 crow flies from Livingstone to Dechmont, thence 

 to the Knock, and thence to the Inch, is six and 

 a half miles — perhaps between seven and eight 

 as hounds ran — while the time, according to 

 two accounts, was forty minutes.^ Some weeks 

 afterwards the same fox was again found in 

 Livingstone wood. Again hounds went away 

 hard at him, and ran very much the same line of 

 country as they had done on the previous occasion, 

 until the Knock was reached. This time, how- 

 ever, the fox was not headed there, and they 



' ' Sporting Magazine,' February 183-1. 



125 



