1^6 HARE-HUNTING AND HARRIERS 



instance the pack hunted and killed their game entirely 

 unassisted. At times, especially as they raced across 

 Windmill Hill Park, they were running mute, a some- 

 what remarkable thing in a pack largely of Southern 

 Hound blood and renowned for its music. The hare 

 had traversed no less than seven parishes ; and we were 

 so far from our head-quarters and so leg weary that 

 we chartered a trap and drove back the six miles from 

 Herstmonceux village to Pevensey. It is very seldom, 

 indeed, that, even with a pack hunted on foot, I have 

 seen hounds get so completely away from their field 

 as upon this occasion. 



Colonel Robertson Aikman tells me that the best 

 run he had in Lanarkshire, where he hunted hare many 

 seasons, was on January 26, 1891. They ran from 

 Cleddans Gate to the moor beyond Cumbernauld and 

 killed in forty-five minutes ; as hounds ran the dis- 

 tance was eight miles, while from point to point it 

 measures six miles. In Derbyshire, with the High 

 Peak harriers, his present pack. Colonel Robertson 

 Aikman's best day happened on January 10, 1903. 

 As hounds ran the distance traversed was nine miles, 

 the cream of it a six-mile point from below Parsley 

 Hay, Monyash Side, to Middleton Hall, accomplished 

 in thirty-five minutes. The whole run occupied one 

 hour. This has always been an excellent part of the 

 High Peak country for runs, and the hares all over 

 this district are wonderfully tough and hardy — some 

 of the very stoutest in England, in fact. Here is an 

 entry from the diary of Mr. Nesfield, so long Master of 

 the pack, in 1865 : " Tuesday, 19th December, Mony- 

 ash. Found near Mellands^ ; ran brilliantly to Abbot's 

 Gorse, down the road to Hurdlow Wood and Wharf, 

 over the heather hills to the left, thence leaving Cronk- 

 stone Grange on the left over the hill, back to the 



