14 Cbe Wcnslepaale Rounds Past ana Present 



father once replying to a question put to him 

 by the late Lord Bolton : " What do you really 

 call your hounds, Mr. Chapman ? " " They will 

 hunt anything from an elephant to a jack weasel, 

 including water rats," was the reply ; and the 

 latter he would often try for when he could not 

 find any sign of an otter. I used to remonstrate 

 with him, saying, " They would run riot, and 

 mark rats when otter hunting." "Nonsense," he 

 replied, " it teaches them to swim ; and they'll 

 never leave an otter for a rat." Perhaps he was 

 right, after all, for I cannot ever recollect them 

 marking rats when on the drag of an otter. 



My father was a rare stickler for sporting 

 terms. For instance, he could not bear to hear 

 anybody speak of a " brood " of partridges, a 

 ^' covey" of grouse, or a "brood" of pheasants. 

 He was very quickly down on them. " No, Sir ! " 

 he would emphatically remark, " a brood of 

 grouse ; a covey of partridges ; an eye of 

 pheasants ; or a bevy of quail." But it was 

 downright sacrilege to call a hound a dog. 



