THE WARWICKSHIRE HOUNDS. 



175 



knowledge of my readers. Before referring, however, yv^jlloughby de 

 to kennel matters I will venture to give a few Broke. 



samples of his sport, as I have done with his pre- 

 decessors. But I must give my readers a warning. I 

 am now on more familiar ground. The nearer we get 

 to the time of writing the better known are the doings 

 of the pack. I cannot, of course, pretend to give any- 

 thing like an exhaustive account of the sport of the 

 past fifteen years, neither have I pretended to do so in 

 the case of earlier periods. The runs I have given are 

 simply pickings to show the class of runs enjoyed at 

 the time, and if I venture to do the same with Lord 

 Willoughby's period, my readers must not be disap- 

 pointed if I omit some admirable piece of work which 

 they have taken part in. My space is limited and I 

 must content myself with pickings from here and there. 



Lord Willoughby de Broke in taking oflBce retained Sport in 1876. 

 Charles Orvis as huntsman, with W. Shepherd 

 and J. Boore as whips. He began with a good 

 cubbing, foxes being plentiful, and his first season 

 (1876-7) can boast of several good specimens of sport. 

 They had a good run from Shuckburgh on the 7th of 

 December, and ended the old year with a fast thing 

 from Ufton Wood on the afternoon of the 29th, finish- 

 ing at Cubbington Heath. On the 15th of March they 

 had a fast twenty-five minutes from Calcot Spinney, 

 but the country was very heavy all the spring and scent 

 by no means of the first quality. 



The season 1877-8 was exceptionally good. On the 



15th of November, 1877, they met at Birdingbury Hall 



and had a very fair run, and on the 29th another was 



enjoyed from Calcot Spinney. Towards the end of 



December they had a very fast thirty minutes from 



Watergall, and on the 17th of that month they had a 



capital run from Debdale to Stoneleigh Deer Park. 



Friday, December 21st, 1877, was one of the days A memorable 

 u- u 1- • ^u r i.u u -^ .i.u u dayfromWrox- 



which live in the memory of those who saw it, although ton. 



Sport in 

 1877-8. 



