192 GOOD SPORT 



the strains of so many notable sorts, the pedigrees 

 of its hounds being most fascinating to follow. 



The bitches we only had time to glance through 

 collectively, and they were beautiful in type, with 

 good bone, necks, and shoulders, the kennel owing 

 its fame to their excellence. One of the celebrities 

 amongst the matrons was Daisy ('03), a daughter 

 of Belvoir Dasher (1900), by many considered to 

 be Belvoir Dexter's best son ; the dam of Daisy 

 was Frugal ('98), a daughter of Freshman, so she 

 boasts the best of breeding. The fame of Daisy is 

 hkely to be perpetuated for many a year to come 

 with five and a half couple to represent her in the 

 kennel, including the top bitch at Birdsall named 

 Wary ('07), who is one of a remarkable litter of four 

 couple by Grafton Waggoner. These ladies do drive, 

 so we heard, and their lines are indicative of speed, 

 displaying on the flags that nippiness of movement 

 so characteristic of the thoroughbred foxhound. 



A second pleasure awaited us when turning to 

 the stables to see Lord Middleton's hunt horses, for 

 they present a stud of exceptional merit, bred, as 

 they are, all to a type. Very few stables in England 

 can show the best part of fifty hunters bearing such 

 a strong family likeness, and this is explained by 

 the fact that the brood mares at Birdsall are de- 

 scended from mares in the stud whose pedigrees 

 have been kept as carefully as those of the hounds 

 for the past sixty years. The late Lord Middleton 

 founded the stud, and to-day the present Viscount 

 has a store of hunter brood mares, descended from 

 hunters who have all proved their worth in the 

 iield. Sired by thoroughbred horses of the right 

 type to do good amongst hunting mares, a thorough- 

 bred stamp of hunter has been established, com- 

 bining substance with quality. Such a home-bred 



