156 THE COMPLETE FOXHUNTER 



of the best provincial countries is a question which 

 cannot be answered offhand, as so much depends 

 upon individual ideas of sport. That there is more 

 quick galloping, and that there are more big fences 

 to be jumped in Leicestershire and Northamptonshire 

 than there are in the average good provincial hunt, 

 admits of no doubt, but there are hunts in which 

 hounds can certainly be seen to greater advantage, 

 and in which the average number of kills after really 

 good runs would work out quite as well. In fact, in 

 these days the question of individual taste enters 

 largely into the matter, and whilst men who have been 

 brought up in the Shires, and have hunted there from 

 their earliest days, will not allow that any other 

 countries can approach them, there are those who have 

 tried the crack Midland hunts and have afterwards 

 gone elsewhere. What really is the chief drawback to 

 the Shires is the overcrowding. To those who have 

 hunted there all their lives the large crowd is a matter 

 of course, but for all that the great numbers which 

 attend the most popular meets of the most fashionable 

 packs cause the sport on many days to be poorer than 

 it ought to be. Hounds, in fact, are constantly over- 

 ridden on days of moderate scent, and are in conse- 

 quence driven beyond the line of their fox. At times 

 the master has his field in hand and is able to stop this 

 over-riding, but it frequently happens that the front of 

 the field is widely spread, and if hounds are checking 

 in every enclosure, it is impossible for a master or field 

 master to be everywhere, and therefore much harm is 

 done. 



Then, too, where so many riders are in the field it is 

 no easy matter to get near hounds merely because of 

 the great numbers. Some there are who, no matter 



