304 HARE-HUNTING AND HARRIERS 



surrounding country. A puppy show is annually held, 

 and, in addition to other prizes, since 1897 a Record 

 Reign Challenge Cup, to be won twice before becoming 

 the absolute property of any walker, has been estab- 

 lished for the benefit of those undertaking the tem- 

 porary care of young hounds. It remains to be said 

 that the Walhampton bassets have been as successful 

 on the show benches as they have in the field. 

 Several of the present pack have been distinguished 

 at the Kennel Club Show, Crystal Palace. 



In addition to the packs I have before referred 

 to, I believe that, here and there, a little hunting is 

 attempted with a few couples of bassets ; these are 

 probably not thought worth while including in the 

 annual lists of hounds. That for the first season or 

 two not much sport may be expected with a new 

 pack has been demonstrated by Captain Heseltine's 

 experiences. But with any new pack of hounds, 

 whether in pursuit of fox, hare, or otter, the same 

 difficulty must be experienced until the huntsman 

 has learnt his craft. The late Rev. John Russell, 

 the famous hunting parson of North Devon, has left 

 on record the ill success of his first season or two with 

 otter hounds. He got together a pack, but could do 

 nothing with them. " I walked," he says, " three 

 thousand miles without finding an otter ; and although 

 I must have passed over scores, I might as well have 

 searched for a moose deer." However, he presently 

 got hold of a hound that understood the business, 

 and by its means educated his scratch pack to proper 

 hunting-pitch. In his next two seasons he tells us, 

 he scored " five-and-thirty otters right off the reel." 

 Now, this is the experience of a man who had been 

 entered to hunting from his earliest boyhood, and not 

 of a raw hand, who had never seen hounds handled 



