Past atia Present 135 



Sheep Worrying. 



I HAVE recently been asked for a remedy for 

 sheep worrying. But, alas, I fear that once 

 hounds have tasted warm blood they are in- 

 curable. I and my father have tried everything 

 imaginable, but we both came to the conclusion 

 that the only cure was to discover the ring- 

 leaders and put them down at once. This may 

 not apply to inland packs where you can ride 

 close to hounds and whip them off before they 

 have tasted blood, but in hill and dale packs, 

 like ours, it is very difficult to get near enough 

 to make sure of the chief offender. I used to 

 think it a very good plan to allow the puppies, 

 when young, to go with the farmers and see the 

 sheep and lambs when they were going their 

 rounds. Deer hunting, I am sure, has a tendency 

 to make hounds take to sheep. I recollect two 

 instances distinctly, and they both occurred after 

 himting the late Lord Bolton's red deer. He 

 used occasionally to ask my father to lend him 

 a few hounds to lead his harriers ; and on two 



