228 THE NEW FOREST 



that delightful country abounding in huntable 

 streams, with otters on every reach of them, 

 where, in the pleasant South of Ireland, I had 

 my happiest and hardest experiences with him. 



Major Hill came down, and inspected the New 

 Forest streams with me, 3,nd, with that abstruse 

 knowledge which enables the expert to state with 

 certainty how many otters there may be on a 

 river, and of what size, pronounced most favour- 

 ably on the prospects of sport on these practically 

 unexplored streams. 



But alas, just then his kennel of the most 

 valuable otter - hounds perhaps that ever were 

 got together, was being decimated by rabies, and 

 he was hard put to it to keep a pack together to 

 hunt any country at all, still less to embark 

 upon a new one. 



After a couple of seasons of uncertainty, Major 

 Hill finally resigned all claim to the New Forest 

 streams, and very few people know that, even for 

 this short period, the New Forest formed a portion 

 of the Hawkestone otter-hunting country. 



Still for years I would wear no other than my 

 old H.O.H. uniform whenever I hunted in the 

 New Forest. 



But we desired to get our otters hunted, and 

 hunted properly, and Major Hill's advice to me 

 was to try and induce Mr. William Collier, 



