90 HUNTING. 



harriers were drafted into beagle packs regardless of rule or 

 standard ; beagles were, in fact, of all sorts, sizes, and con- 

 ditions. Some years ago I appealed to the Peterborough 

 Committee, through the medium of the ' Field ' newspaper, 

 asking them to form a show, and give prizes for harriers and 

 beagles, on the same principle as that on which the Foxhound 

 Show was based. 



The Committee, with much courtesy, consented to give the 

 scheme a trial, and appointed the day after the Foxhound 

 Show as the most convenient time. The first show took 

 place in 1889, under the presidency of the Mayor of Peter- 

 borough. It was a success, and in the following year another 

 was held under the same conditions. During the show in 1890, 

 at the suggestion of Major Robertson- Aikman, M.H., a meeting 

 of masters of harriers took place to decide what hounds 

 should be shown as harriers in future. After much discussion, 

 this meeting was adjourned until the following spring, when 

 Sir John Thursby most kindly placed his house in London at 

 the disposal of masters of harriers and beagles, he himself 

 issuing circulars inviting them to attend. 



At this meeting it was proposed by Mr. J. S. Gibbons, 

 Master of the Boddington Harriers, that a Harrier and Beagle 

 Association should be started, and this motion was carried 

 unanimously. One of the chief objects of the association 

 was to start a stud-book for harriers and a stud-book for 

 beagles respectively, and this book was at once organised and 

 arranged under the able auspices of the Honorary Secretary, 

 Air. L. E. Rickards, to whom much praise and thanks are due 

 for his untiring and successful efforts. 



Since starting these annual shows at Peterborough and the 

 formation of the stud-book, a marvellous change for the 

 better has taken place in both the harrier and the beagle, but 

 in the present instance, of course, my remarks must be confined 

 to the latter. 



No beagle can now be entered in the stud-book with a 

 direct harrier cross nearer than two generations back. Under 



