210 THE MEYNELL HOUNDS. [1862 



Byrkley, with its oaks, hollies, and great thorn trees, 

 is a most picturesque place, and must be a portion of the 

 primaeval forest, even as Bagot's Park is. 



On January 13th, hounds were at Loxley, and 

 first of all, one couple, Argus and Winifred, slipped on 

 by themselves from Carry Coppice towards Leigh, and 

 were never caught up that day ; then, when the attempt to 

 find them proved useless, a fox was found in Birchwood 

 Park, and raced into in twelve minutes in Sherratt's Wood. 

 Meanwhile, six couples and a half had gone on with 

 another fox, and the Master and Jack Leedham found 

 them with the North Stafford, beyond Draycott Woods. 

 At Walton, on the next hunting day, hounds killed a fox 

 in the river by Drakelowe, and Artful swam back to the 

 bank with him in her mouth like a retriever. At Eadburne 

 in February, after a good ringing run. Fancy and Amulet 

 went up a drain after their fox and killed him, as their 

 ancestors so frequently did in the early days of the Hunt. 



On March 29th, they met at Blythbury, and had 

 a good day, though they did not find till they got to 

 the Briikenhurst. Then it proved to be a vixen, and they 

 had to stop the hounds on Loverock's farm. This was a 

 different state of things to what it was a few years back, 

 when the diary speaks of " a regular Blythbury day, con- 

 tinually changing foxes and running round and round all 

 day," or words to that effect. On this particular day they 

 found in the Banks in Bartram's dingle, came away by 

 Tomlinson's Corner, across Agardsley Park (where that 

 good sportsman, Mr. Harris, late of Fauld Hall, now 

 lives), into the Banks again, up and down them, out again 

 by Hanbury, down the hill to Coton, back again by the 

 old gorse at Castle Hays, over Belmont Green, by Little 

 Castle Hays, Stone's Gorse, and Hanbury Park Wood, 

 where he turned short back to Castle Hays, and they 

 killed him, after a good ringing hunt of fourteen miles at 

 least, in an hour and a half. The last day, on April 9th, 

 was at Wolseley, when they ran across the Chace and killed 

 in the Teddesley Plantation. 



