SOME YORKSHIRE HUNTING NOTES 209 



after luncheon. During the past sixty ^^ears, two 

 Lord Middletons have bred their own hunters, 

 and carefully preserved pedigrees. The present 

 Viscount has for the past thirty years interested 

 himself in the movement, as originated by the 

 Hunters' Improvement Society ; and Birdsall to- 

 day is an object lesson as to what can be accom- 

 plished. This is illustrated by a certain stamp of 

 blood-horse throughout the stables ; for Lord 

 Middleton had a splendid store of brood-mares 

 available, descendants of those bred by his father 

 for the purpose of winning hunt -races, as well as 

 mounting the hunt-staff. Touchstone blood is the 

 foundation of the pedigrees, but many of the mares 

 strain back to the old Yorkshire pack-horses, 

 a few dashes of pony lines giving qualities 

 of stoutness and constitution. The hunters are 

 of a medium-size, like the hounds built near the 

 ground, possessing that desirable blend of quality 

 and substance, which stamp them as the best 

 conveyances for any country. Such an authority 

 as the late " Parson " John Russell, once said, " for 

 a hunter to get through a really big run, he 

 must have pony blood lurking in him somewhere." 

 Amongst the forty-five hunters in the stable, only 

 two were purchased, all the rest being home- 

 bred, and they include weighty mares with well- 

 sprung ribs, the best performers being reserved 

 for brood purposes ; so that qualities for work 

 are preserved on the same lines in the stable as 

 in the kennel. The thoroughbred stallions which 

 Lord Middleton purchased for the stud, include 

 Gordon, a son of Hermit ; Sherbrooke, by Dutch 

 Skater ; Red Eagle, by Thurio ; and Wales, by 

 Belgrave. The huntsman told us, " that the Gordons 

 were all something out of the common as hunters, 







