152 THE COMPLETE FOXHUNTER 



nor all the hunting localities described. The various 

 hunts have been treated in alphabetical order, and thus 

 in such works as that first mentioned one reads of the 

 Belvoir on one page and the Badsworth on the next. 

 Then, again, in Brooksby's Himting Countries of Great 

 Britam no regular order was maintained, and each 

 individual country was described on its merits and 

 with little reference to its neighbours. But the fact 

 is that in some localities there are groups of hunts 

 in which the country is for the most part similar, 

 while in other places the country varies in half a 

 dozen ways within the confines of a single hunt, and 

 again there are many good hunting quarters of which 

 little is heard, while certain other localities are perhaps 

 slightly overrated. That one man should be fully 

 acquainted with all the physical conditions of every 

 hunt in the kingdom is practically impossible, but 

 when a system of observing the peculiarities of many 

 countries has been carried on for many years, and 

 when actual field experience has been gained in half 

 the existing countries of England, then the result of 

 such experience should be of some small value. 



To all who are versed in hunting knowledge it is 

 known that certain packs hunting in Leicestershire, 

 Lincolnshire, Rutlandshire, and Northamptonshire are 

 spoken of, written of, and generally known as the 

 "Shire" packs, but how the description arose, and 

 who was the author or godfather of the phrase, is 

 not known, nor could the talented writers of the 

 Badminton Library Hunting Volume elucidate the 

 mystery. What is certain is that those packs which 

 alone have a right to be called "Shire" packs are 

 the Quorn, Cottesmore, Belvoir, Mr. Fernie's (which 

 was originally part of the Quorn), the Pytchley, and 



