ioo OTTER HUNTING, FALCONRY, SHOOTING 



and delight in cultivating the natural instinct of the hound, 

 in driving on a hot scent, and elaborately picking up a 

 cold one in fact in the exercise of the full powers of brain 

 and instinct in biped and quadruped. The good or bad 

 run depends almost entirely upon the qualities of fox and 

 hounds. The best huntsman cannot make a bad fox run 

 straight, and with the best of foxes bad hounds are use- 

 less. All this is strikingly applicable to otter hunting, 

 in which most delightful sport the object of pursuit has 

 very long odds in his favour." 



While we are very far from saying or supposing that 

 the last word has been spoken on sport in the abstract, or 

 sport as it is carried on in this country, such a contribution 

 to the question as this must needs be full of interest. It 

 was written by one who was not only a singularly clear 

 thinker, but was himself the best example of his own 

 creed. 



Of all forms of English sport, none agree with the 

 postulates of ' natural conditions ' and c fairness ' in quite 

 such an absolute degree as the sister sports of hunting, 

 fishing, and falconry. The opinion which Lord Lilford 

 held of fox hunting may be read in the tribute he has 

 paid to it above. And, although the claims of otter 

 hunting held his first homage, the foxhounds were ever 

 welcomed by him with the heartiness of a true sportsman, 

 and no one was more delighted than himself when they 

 went away from his coverts on the line of a good stout 



