A GLANCE AT ENGLISH PACKS 127 



surprised to find hare-hunting so Httle pursued in a 

 country where foxhounds are not too much known, 

 and where many wild districts might be supposed 

 to lend themselves to fine sport with harriers or beagles. 

 I do not find that a single pack of beagles exists in 

 this beautiful county, while of harriers the High Peak 

 are the only pack which have their head-quarters in 

 Derbyshire. The Dove Valley Harriers, it is true, 

 hunt partly in Derbyshire, but their kennels and 

 head-quarters are at Mayfield, in Staffordshire.* This 

 last-named pack numbers twenty couples of twenty-one- 

 inch foxhounds, and hunts three days a week. Their 

 country is a very beautiful one, grass for the most part, 

 with moorland here and there, and plenty of stone walls. 

 In the High Peak we find one of the best countries 

 and the most brilliant packs in the kingdom. Hunting 

 in the fine, upland district round about Bakewell 

 and Buxton, these harriers have the advantage of 

 pursuing their hares over old pasture, which affords 

 excellent scenting. There is practically no wire. This 

 is a stone-wall country, the walls being built of lime- 

 stone, loose, wide, and of a fair height. I have had 

 the pleasure of seeing hare-hunting in the High Peak 

 country, and I am bound to say the sport shown is 

 very excellent indeed. A good and clever hunter is 

 needed, and as enclosures, where they exist, are small, 

 and walls frequent, the amount of jumping is very 

 considerable. I have seen more and better fencing 

 in a hunt with these harriers than in many a good 

 run with the Pytchley or Grafton hounds. Colonel 

 Robertson Aikman, who has mastered and hunted 

 the High Peak Harriers since 1901, has a great reputa- 

 tion. For many years he hunted hare in Scotland, 



* The Foremark Harriers hunted, until recently, partly in 

 South Derbyshire, but have now been given up. 



