174 COdh'SlA^C 771 K HAKE 



scended from Ptarmigan and Gallant Foe, has not so 

 much public coursing as formerly, when Gosforth 

 Park was at its zenith, or even before, when the 

 monster Bothal and Goquetdale Meetings were in 

 existence; still" there are plenty of greyhounds in 

 the county, and the North of England Club works 

 hard in the best interests of the sport. This institu- 

 tion is an extraordinary power in the land, and literally 

 commands the country from Ripon, in Yorkshire, to 

 P^slington, in North Northumberland, coursing over a 

 dozen or more large estates in the intervening district 

 of more than one hundred miles, and providing stakes 

 for every class of greyhound. Its most numerous, 

 but smaller, meetings are in the Durham district, and 

 its biggest affair over the Marquess of Ripon's Rainton 

 estate, near Ripon, where the programme embraces a 

 sixty-four, two thirty-twos, and two or three sixteens. 

 Most of the ground where it has leave is good ; but at 

 some of the meetings the enclosures are small, and 

 often a great part of each course is only visible to the 

 judge. 



Durham is a great coursing county, but nowadays 

 the greyhounds are chiefly owned by small tradesmen, 

 innkeepers, and miners ; and, in direct contrast to the 

 state of affairs existing in Lancashire, the Durham 

 Meetings seem to appeal chiefly to those who are 



