HISTORY OF THE KILDARE HUNT 

 I have spoken of the synopsis left by Sir Edward 

 of the results of his hunting during the six seasons 

 he had the hounds, and this, perhaps, is the place to 

 glance at it. 



Apart from cubhunting, the days hunted by the 

 Kildare hounds from the autumn of 1868 to the 

 spring of 1874 were 403, or sixty-seven a season, 

 giving the usual Kildare average of seven days a 

 fortnight. The finds were 970, or a little over two a 

 day, let us say that number for every two days and 

 three every third day. The record of kills is a poor 

 one, taken either on its merits or compared with 

 former periods of the Hunt of which there is accu- 

 rate record. Kills in the six seasons under review 

 amounted only to 152, or little more than one out 

 of six foxes found. There were 273 accounted for 

 by having been run to ground, leaving 545 lost, 

 or more than half of the foxes found. 



In this chapter, where I am near the end of the 

 annals of the Kildare hounds, which, for a variety 

 of reasons, I think it advisable to close with the 

 reigns of masters deceased, it may be instructive 

 to compare Sir Edward's record of finds and kills 

 with those of his father and his brother, already 

 set out on a former page. I do this not in any spirit of 

 criticism, but because the results may suggest causes 

 for certain effects which may have an enduring 

 interest for sportsmen of the present generation. 

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