SPORT IN SCOTLAND 173 



The Lanarkshire, mastered and hunted by Captain 

 W. B. Rankin, had, till a year or so back, kennels at 

 Haughhead, near Hamilton, whence they hunted 

 two days a week. They have now been given up, 

 and a pack of beagles hunts in their stead. This 

 country had long been hunted by harriers. Lord 

 Hamilton of Dalzell and others having maintained 

 hounds there. Colonel Robertson Aikman hunted 

 the country very successfully from 1888 to 1901, 

 sometimes alone, sometimes with a joint Master. 

 The territory, which lies in Lanarkshire and Dum- 

 bartonshire, consists of a fair extent of pasture, with 

 a third plough, and some moor and woodland. A 

 good deal of wire exists, and this, no doubt, has led 

 to the final extinction of harriers in this region, and 

 the substitution of foot-beagles. Concerning Scottish 

 hare-hunting Colonel Robertson Aikman sends me 

 the following note, in answer to an inquiry of mine : 



" Hare-hunting in Scotland differs little from that 

 in England. My own experience was very good sport 

 and good scent in Lanarkshire, which is a first-rate 

 natural hunting country (in the northern half of the 

 county), but is spoilt by the opening up of the mineral 

 field. Wire fencing and railways innumerable were 

 the consequence, and fox-hunting became impossible 

 some twenty years ago, and now riding to any hounds 

 is practically impossible. 



" The reason there is little hare-hunting in Scotland 

 is partly due to the fact that Scotsmen who are fond 

 of hunting, and in a position to do so, go south for 

 their sport, it being more plentiful there and more 

 easily obtained. It is also partly owing to so much 

 of Scotland being naturally unsuitable for hunting, 

 as well as to the prevalence of wire and the importance 

 attached to shooting." 



