222 GOOD SPORT 



plied the needful, and a rousing good gallop 

 resulted over a country that rode very deep 

 but carried a scent to Silk Willoughby, where 

 with slower hunting they reached Rauceby and 

 killed. 



Four o'clock in the morning for the month of 

 August is an hour considered necessary to catch 

 the early morning dew and a scent. The Marquis 

 of Exeter was one of those who started season 

 1908-9 as usual on grouse-shooting day, reaching 

 covert in the dark, having to wait twenty minutes 

 for the first streak of dawn before throwing hounds 

 in. The select field to meet him, included one of 

 the number driving a gig, who arrived a good first 

 with his lamps lit ! Scent served, and before a 

 return was made to kennels at eight o'clock, when 

 the sun was blazing hot, a brace of masks adorned 

 the whipper-in's saddle. 



These early mornings' hunting in August have a 

 charm all their own, and we have memories of a 

 hunt with the South Staffordshire presenting a scene 

 of diversified loveliness. Staying over-night with 

 Mr. F. Villiers Forster, the master, at Longdon 

 Grange near Rugely, we were aroused next morning 

 before four o'clock to start the cub-hunting cam- 

 paign on the last day of August. Variety of scenery 

 and conditions of hunting are offered by the wild, 

 hilly tract of moorland, known as Cannock Chase, 

 some forty thousand acres of heather and bracken. 

 Undoubtedly in earl}^ times an oak forest of great 

 extent existed here, and there is a tradition that a 

 squirrel could spring from tree to tree, some twelve 

 miles, from Hammerwich as far as Buxton. Soli- 

 tary oak-trees still exist on the Chase, with belts of 

 firs and spruce to break the masses of purple heather 

 and golden bracken. This wild spot of delightful 



