Mr Lewis Priestman, M.F.H. 



34 FOX-HUNTING FROM SHIRE TO SHIRE 



a magnificent weight carrier, — who in ten seasons 

 did some 240 full days' hunting, — with Gambler, 

 the top hound, leading the way. The kennels, 



a quarter of a mile from 

 the master's house on 

 Tynkley Hill, are compact 

 and convenient, with lodg- 

 ing room for about thirty 

 couples. A small paddock 

 adjoins the kennels, with a 

 level square of cement in 

 the centre on which to 

 show hounds. In the spick 

 and span kennel room is 

 a new departure in the 

 way of pictures of well- 

 known pattern hounds, let 

 into the slides of the lockers, most useful to 

 tune up the eye for type and symmetry. The 

 pack is bred for work — medium-sized, active 

 hounds with no lumber, full of drive and music, 

 without which they w^ould never get the foxes 

 away from the big coverts. The type appears to 

 be admirably adapted for the needs of the country 

 which has a rugged surface and steep declivities. 

 Heavier-built hounds would not get up and down 

 the hills so well, although the going is nearly always 

 good, sound on the grass lands if somewhat deep 

 in the coverts. The present occupants of the 

 kennel have been bred by Mr Lewis Priestman from 

 proved working strains, and at one time half the 

 pack were related to a South Durham hound named 

 Gratitude. Latterly entries have been so small, 

 owing to distemper and other causes, that the master 

 has had to depend on liberal purchases from the 

 Cottesmore, Tynedale, Lord Middleton's, and other 



