HUNTING LOCALITIES 197 



station being on a branch line, where there are no great 

 number of trains. Still a really energetic man could 

 hunt every day in the week from Whalton, dividing his 

 time between the Tynedale and the Morpeth, and on 

 rather more than half the hunting days he would be 

 well within hacking distance of the meets. About five 

 days in every fortnight he would have to send horses 

 on overnight or very early in the morning, but even 

 then there would be no boxing, and a long drive behind 

 a horse or a short one in a motor-car would carry him 

 to the extreme boundary of either country. As a matter 

 of fact, Mr. Edward Dent, of Shortflat Tower (near 

 Whalton), so well known at one time in the coursing 

 world, was until quite lately in the habit of attending 

 every meet of either pack, and he may be doing the 

 same thing now for all we know to the contrary. 



Further north in Northumberland the hunting be- 

 comes more localised, chiefly because of the physical 

 conditions of the country. The country all along the 

 coast is low-lying, pasture being in excess of plough, 

 but the hills and moors are not very far away inland, 

 and thus it happens that such countries as the Coquet- 

 dale and Glendale are rather self-contained. Alnwick 

 and Alnmouth are central spots for the Percy, and any 

 one located at either place can reach the Morpeth or 

 the North Northumberland by train ; indeed, some 

 meets of the Morpeth are within hacking distance, and 

 residents in the eastern part of Coquetdale — say be- 

 tween Weldon Bridge and Warkworth — are well placed 

 for hunting with both Percy and Morpeth, and could at 

 times reach the Coquetdale as well. 



It is hardly worth while to mention the hunting 

 centres further north, for most of the Scotch packs are 

 in some degree isolated, though the Duke of Buc- 



