28o THE COMPLETE FOXHUNTER 



Before leaving this part of the subject, it may be 

 mentioned that the Broomshields estate was an ideal 

 harehunting ground. The estate consists of large 

 enclosures of pasture land, which are never mown, and 

 which, therefore, are covered with long grass. As 

 scenting ground it takes very high rank, and there are 

 no large coverts, merely a few larch plantations which 

 have an undergrowth of grass, and which hounds can run 

 through without slowing down. The only drawback 

 is the height of some but not all of the walls, but 

 these give the hare an advantage, which is all for the 

 best. The stock of hares was, as a rule, just what was 

 required for harriers, and the hares themselves as 

 strong as any we ever saw. Then, too, the district is 

 very thinly populated, and it was not until the period 

 of the Shotley Bridge Beagles that there was any 

 crowd. But these hounds, which were kennelled ten 

 miles away, used to be brought over on the preceding 

 day, and their regular field arrived on wheels, or 

 from the nearest railway station on the morning of 

 hunting. 



Some twenty years ago, or rather more, a very smart 

 pack was owned by a Colonel Anderson, who lived at 

 Ryton Woodside, not many miles distant from New- 

 castle-on-Tyne. With these hounds at times we wit- 

 nessed capital sport, especially in the neighbourhood 

 of Ponteland, where the country is well adapted to 

 harehunting. It was when hunting with this pack that 

 we saw a hare travel along a country lane for half 

 a mile, whilst hounds ran her at top speed, but re- 

 mained all the time on the other side of the fence, 

 which was parallel to the lane. Scent was really breast- 

 high on this occasion, and as the ground sloped one 

 could see both hare and hounds, and observe exactly 



