SEASON'S 1841- 1 86g. 81 



were running hard for their fox when a violent thunderstorm 

 came on and deprived them of the blood they so well 

 deserved. 



Though this was a good season there was not a great 

 ' list of slain.' Mr. York records that in fifty-nine days they 

 found ninety foxes, of which they killed above ground, seven- 

 teen ; killed on the earth after digging, seven ; and ran to 

 ground, ten ; leaving fifty-six to be accounted for, and of 

 these many doubtless owed their lives to the friendly 

 darkness. Of course, this is not the full record of the 

 season, but it is interesting, as showing how difficult the 

 good wild old foxes were to handle, even when such a past 

 master as Will Danby was carrying the horn. 



There are no diaries forthcoming from the .spring of 1 846 

 to the autumn of 1851, but from other sources three good 

 runs are given. The first of these took place on Tuesday, 

 March 14th, 1848. The fixture was Dringhouses, and there 

 would seem to have been a rare crowd, for the chronicler 

 estimates the field at three hundred horsemen, and says that 

 a friend of his who had hunted with the York and Ainsty 

 for upwards of thirty years told him that it was the largest 

 field he had ever seen. Askham Boo^s were first tried, and 

 a capital fox it was that hounds found there, provided that 

 they never changed. They were not long in getting to 

 work, for hounds had no sooner found than the fox broke 

 on the Tadcaster road side, which then, as it generally is 

 now, would doubtless be lined with people on foot and in 

 carriages. The fox crossed the road in spite of this, and 

 hounds ran him hard to Colton HaQo- and on to the York 

 and North Midland railway. At the railway the fox was 

 headed, and turned away for Colton village, and hounds ran 

 him hard over the Tadcaster road again, and past Bilbrough 

 village. Leaving the village to the left, they ran on to 

 Catterton Spring and skirted Healaugh Manor, leaving Shire 



