SPORT IN IRELAND i6i 



really very fair sport ; and as we were always pre- 

 pared, as some sporting correspondent says, to hunt 

 anything, from an elephant to a flea, we had some 

 rather curious experiences. One of the most amusing 

 hunts we had was after a greyhound, on whose line I 

 clapped the pack ; the dog made a point for home 

 and saved his scut by getting to ground in his master's 

 cabin. I don't know if I am wise in telling you how 

 I arranged some very good sport with dogs ? When 

 I wanted a good gallop, which was not very seldom, 

 I either got a dog hired, or sometimes, when the owner 

 was obdurate, borrowed one from some four or five 

 miles away from where we wanted a hunt. The dog 

 was taken across country to the meet, put into a sack 

 in which ferrets had been lying for a week or so. 

 He was kept thus for, say, half an hour, pretty well 

 frightened, then turned out at the appointed time in 

 some wood close by, and after letting him get a fair 

 start, I used to draw the wood for a fox. It was quite 

 wonderful how and with what speed the dog used to 

 make his way home ; he seemed to avoid human 

 beings, and it was difficult for any one not in the know 

 to believe they were not hunting a fox. I used to 

 teU the field we were sure to find in that particular 

 wood, and my prophecy on these occasions always 

 came off triumphantly." 



I do not publish these " Experiences of an Irish 

 M.H." by any means as holding them up for imita- 

 tion by embryo masters of hounds, but as a picture 

 of what still goes on in the Sister Isle, and perhaps 

 even elsewhere nearer home occasionally. These 

 were, after all, the ebullitions of high spirits and hot 

 youth, and my correspondent would himself be now 

 the first to repudiate their encouragement. But, 

 after all, " bagged dog " is little worse than " bagged 



