176 FOX-HUNTING FROM SHIRE TO SHIRE 



seasons' mastership of the Woodland Pytchley, 

 Mr Austin Mackenzie bred a beautiful pack of 

 hounds, going a great deal to Belvoir for blood, but 

 also to other kennels which were in form, where 

 the blood nicked with his own. As will be remem- 

 bered, these hounds year after year took many of 

 the prizes at Peterborough ; and when Mr Austin 

 Mackenzie resigned in 1899 the pack was sold for 

 5000 guineas ; the Duke of Beaufort purchasing 

 the dogs and Mr W. M. Wroughton the bitches. 

 The latter pack continued to hunt in the Woodland 

 Pytchley country until 1908, their fame in the field 

 and on the flags at Peterborough being carried on 

 by their new owner ; for Mr W. M. Wroughton was 

 a keen student of foxhound breeding. When his 

 mastership came to an end the pack was dispersed, 

 the pick of the bitches being purchased by the 

 Earl of Lonsdale for the private pack at Barley- 

 thorpe, for which he paid up to 200 guineas for a 

 single hound. 



From the foregoing sketch it will be seen that — 

 aided by the lists he had always preserved — the new 

 master of the Cottesmore was able to pick up the 

 original Lord Henry Bentinck strains of blood, and 

 have his old sort once again on the benches of the 

 kennel. The year previous (1907) Lord Lonsdale 

 had the opportunity of purchasing fifteen and a 

 half couples of the South Cheshire bitches, when Mr 

 Reginald Corbet gave up the mastership. After 

 seeing them hunt, his lordship considered they 

 were worth any money for a country like the Cottes- 

 more, paying something like 3000 guineas for the 

 pick of the kennel. The most famous couple were 

 War Cry (1906), by Warwickshire Sampson (1900) 

 from South Cheshire Wedlock (1903) ; and Hecuba 

 (1906), by Belvoir Helper (1903) from South Cheshire 



