HUNTING LOCALITIES 149 



owner, resident in a country of no great reputation, 

 now so often hunts from home instead of taking up 

 his abode for the season in a fashionable hunt. 



In earlier days men who could afford it chose their 

 hunting quarters in a locality where they were not only 

 practically certain of seeing good sport, but where they 

 had every reasonable chance of being able to enjoy 

 that sport, without being unduly hustled. They 

 perhaps knew that the hunting they left behind them 

 was good enough in its way, but the country did not 

 allow of a sufficiency of galloping and jumping, and 

 possibly the "fields" were so small that the days of 

 moderate sport were dull. During the last fifty years, 

 however, the provincial packs have been greatly im- 

 proved. Hound breeding has been more carefully 

 studied, and where there was one enthusiast there are 

 now a dozen. The style of hunting has changed too. 

 Hunt servants in the provinces are nowadays carefully 

 chosen, and for the most part far better mounted than 

 were those of a generation or two ago. Kennel 

 management is superior to what it used to be, and the 

 whole turn-out of an average provincial pack is so 

 greatly superior that, in spite of the modern drawbacks 

 to sport which have just been mentioned, as regards the 

 establishment a much higher all-round standard is 

 maintained. 



Of course there are exceptions to every rule, and 

 it need hardly be stated here that in fifty countries, 

 other than the Shire countries, a high standard has 

 always been maintained ; but the number of fairly 

 smart packs has been absolutely doubled within our 

 recollection, and, to look for a moment at the reverse 

 side of the question, it would be possible to pick out 

 some few, very few, packs which have fallen from a 



