4 THE COMPLETE FOXHUNTER 



pack, and various taxes were imposed in connection 

 with the hunt in the counties of Surrey, Sussex, and 

 Northamptonshire. The packs named were not fox- 

 hounds, however, and it is probably the case that 

 during the eighteenth century many of the harriers, 

 and even some of the staghound packs then in exist- 

 ence, changed from hare or stag to fox, the former 

 because the fox had been found to be a more enduring 

 animal, and the latter because the stags or bucks had 

 disappeared. 



" The Druid," in Silk and Scarlet, states that prior to 

 1750 it was sound orthodoxy to hunt what first came to 

 hand, and that it was not until some twenty years later 

 that the line of demarcation between hare and fox 

 began to grow sharp and clear. No doubt the two 

 quarries were hunted indiscriminately by a majority of 

 the packs which were in existence in the eighteenth 

 century ; some hunted hare in the autumn and fox in 

 the spring ; others had special days for either sport, 

 and others again just hunted what came to hand, 

 running a hare in the morning and a fox in the after- 

 noon, or vice versa. Between 1750 and 1800 all the 

 more important establishments then existing gradually 

 changed from stag, buck or hare to fox, but it was not 

 until the latter of the two dates that foxhunting had 

 taken the first place, and during the first twenty years 

 of the eighteenth century the change was still in course 

 of progress, though by this time it was the ultra- 

 provincial packs which were following the example of 

 the more important hunts. 



And as regards the claims of seniority which have 

 been made on behalf of certain packs of hounds. 

 These may \>e briefly mentioned, but as a matter of fact 

 the point is really of little consequence, for the broad 



