164 HARE-HUNTING AND HARRIERS 



in the west ; the latter gets away smartly and keeps 

 going, but the Meath hare runs to the first fence, 

 dodges in and out, and seldom goes two fields away. 

 Though we stuck as much as possible to the legitimate 

 game, yet we came across a number of outlying foxes 

 and had some fair runs ; but as, of course, the country 

 was not stopped they generally went soon to ground." 

 An outlying deer was also occasionally hunted by these 

 harriers. 



County Dublin supports two packs, Mr. Brooke's 

 and the Fingal. Mr. G. F. Brooke's pack, kennelled 

 at Summerton, Castlenock, the residence of the Master, 

 muster sixteen couples of twenty-and-a-half-inch Stud- 

 book harriers, which hunt two days a week. The 

 country, which lies in the Meath and Kildare Hunt 

 territories, is a big one, extending from the Dublin 

 Hills to Dunboyne, and from Dublin to Kilcock. 

 Pasture and plough occupy three-fourths of the 

 country, the rest being moorland. The Fingal, with 

 kennels at Whitestown, Balbriggan, number sixteen 

 couples of twenty-inch cross-bred hounds, hunting 

 two days a week. Mr. R. T. Woods has been Master 

 since 1881, with a subscription. The country, con- 

 sisting mainly of pasture, lies in the north of County 

 Dublin and the southern part of Meath. The Louth 

 foxhounds hunt over this region. 



Clare is another Irish county which boasts two 

 packs of harriers. The Clare hounds, mastered by 

 Mrs. Stacpoole, of Eden Vale, Ennis, have been more 

 or less connected with this family since 1867, when the 

 late Mr. Richard Stacpoole started them. He hunted 

 these harriers until 1879-80, when the Land League 

 stopped hunting over a great part of Ireland. The pack, 

 consisting of eighteen couples of twenty-inch cross- 

 bred harriers, is now hunted by Mr. R. J. Stacpoole, 



