180 REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN 



the decoy, assists in its return. I did, literally speaking, sit on 

 that wild moor by the side of the decoy one day when the hounds 

 met there ; for, on reaching carelessly out of my saddle to shake 

 an acquaintance by the hand, between the grasp, my own 

 carelessness, and the design of my horse Brock, I was let into 

 the heather. I say, that to sit and see the hounds splash 

 through the water to draw the immense bog around the decoy 

 for a fox, the air darkened with teal chiefly, mingled with other 

 fowl, and black game and snipes getting up all round you, is a 

 delight in itself, without the merry challenge from hound to 

 hound as on the line of the fox they spring from hag to hag. 

 The Charborough decoy is a sure find, and then a certain scurry 

 over the short heather. But to return ; my present theme is 

 Berkeley Castle. 



As I have stated, the hunting establishment at Berkeley 

 Castle is on the most ample and perfect footing ; and, without 

 fearing a charge of being predisposed to the castle-bred hounds, 

 I assert, that I would sooner have one puppy thence than three 

 from any other sort I ever tried in the whole course of my 

 experience. The late Lord Ducie never lost an opportunity of 

 running those hounds down ; but, as I consider his judgment on 

 hunting not to have been anything like the very best, it never 

 made any impression on me. I have ever found the sort 

 combine the finest nose with the most complete constitution, 

 stoutness, and resolution, at the same time that the temper is 

 tractable and affectionate. From the kennel to the deer-park, 

 there is excellent management ; one fault only existing in the 

 deer-park, and that is a fault on the right side, which is, the 

 fact of keeping on too many old bucks, bucks that never would 

 be better, and who, by their number during the rutting season, 

 risk the lives of younger deer, by stabbing them with their 

 horns. I think the deer at Berkeley average about a thousand 

 head, besides the herd of red deer, and finer venison it is not 

 possible to taste. The park stands on a hill a mile from the 

 Castle ; but there used to be a sort of home park, in which, in 

 former times, were kept the red deer. It was in that park 



