COLONEL FAIRFAX'S MASTERSHIP. i6i 



' ever have seen in the Ainsty for hounds. Ground very 

 ' deep, scent excellent. Rode a mare of vSir George's in 

 ' first run ; well carried. Dog pack worked well." 



Frost bothered them in the early part of March, and we 

 find Colonel Fairfax expressing his regret at the disappoint- 

 ment of the many who had drawn up at Skip Bridge on the 

 loth of that month, in the hope that hunting might be 

 possible. ' There were many at meet disappointed, for which 

 I was very sorry,' he writes, and then adds: 'N.B. Always 

 go to meet.' 



The season finished on April 20th, when they ran a good 

 fox from Askham Boy's, and marked him to ground at Red 

 House. Altogether they hunted one hundred and seven 

 days, were stopped by frost eleven days, killed forty-three- 

 and-a-half brace, marked twenty-one brace to ground, and 

 had two blank days. The dogs killed twenty-four-and-a-half 

 brace and ran seven brace to ground, and the bitches killed 

 nineteen brace and ran fourteen brace to ground, so that 

 the honours were pretty evenly divided, the bitches accounting 

 for a brace and a half more than the dogs, who had the best 

 luck in killing their foxes. 



1876-77. The following season opened early in Sep- 

 tember, but after hunting a few days they had to stop on 

 account of the late harvest. On Saturday the second, they 

 commenced at Goldsbrough, but there was so much corn 

 uncut round the moor that they had to go to the wood, and 

 after working the wood well with no scent, they went home 

 without blood. They had, however, the satisfaction of 

 knowing that there was an excellent show of foxes. Sep- 

 tember was a fairly satisfactory month, as they were out 

 fifteen days, and killed twelve brace of foxes, but there is 

 nothing much to note about the sport. On October 19th, 

 we read that Colonel Fairfax took the dog hounds to Scriven 

 Bar for a change, the note in the diary stating, ' They have 



