I02 Otters and Otter-Hunting. 



pleasure of breeding and hunting hounds : and for 

 this he further disburses any sum between ;£5o and 

 ;£ioo in personal expenses, train fares, hotel bills, 

 carriage hire, tips, and so forth, which otherwise he 

 would not have to spend. It is obviously not fair to 

 ask him to provide the capital to carry on the hunt 

 in addition, and to wait until a tardy secretary shall 

 have found time to collect overdue subscriptions 

 before he can be reimbursed. 



It is evident, therefore, that the man who aspires 

 to become a Master of Otter-hounds must have 

 some private income, sufficient at any rate to main- 

 tain himself in that position in life to which he 

 belongs and to defray his extra-private expenses 

 during the hunting season. The man of little means, 

 who takes all the subscriptions he can get and keeps 

 himself as well as the hounds out of the sum 

 received, or is privately supported by some unwise 

 but generous member of the hunt, is not in reality 

 a Master of Hounds, but merely the paid servant 

 of every subscriber, or at least of his generous but 

 misguided friend. In such a case sport will suffer, 

 hounds deteriorate, and the eventual disintegration 

 of the hunt is practically assured. 



There are different ways in which the intending 

 Master may estimate the probable cost of hunting 

 a country, so as to know, approximately, for what 

 subscribed sum he may venture to undertake the 



