134 HUNTING 



legs are weak and crooked ; he has the reverse of those ' round 

 cat feet ' which Somerville properly desires. He is flat-sided 

 and slack in the loins ; his stern is badly put on in the wrong 

 place, and there is a total lack of muscle in his lean and long- 

 drawn thighs. 



The expenses of a pack of hounds naturally depend upon 

 the number of days per week that the master hunts, and the 

 number of hounds that it is therefore necessary to keep. In 

 the Badminton kennels there are, as a rule, about 75 couples, 

 and this provides \Z\ or 20 couples five days a week. For a 

 pack which hunts four days a week, 52 couples will suffice. The 

 two-days-a-week man will be well found with 28 couples, or, if 

 he does not breed, 23 couples will be enough. 



The annual consumption of 75 couples includes about 40 

 tons of oatmeal, 3 tons of dog biscuit, and 150 horses. Great 

 care should be taken in selecting the meal. It should be 

 bought before the new oats are harvested. Once placed in 

 the meal room, it must not be moved or it will ferment. If it 

 be possible to obtain damaged navy biscuits nothing is better. 

 Some makers are grossly careless, and their manufacture has a 

 deleterious effect on the hounds. A two-days-a-week pack will 

 consume about 13 tons of oatmeal, i ton of dog biscuits, and 

 50 horses. Prices vary. Oatmeal ranges from 10/. to 18/. 

 per ton ; biscuit is about 13/. per ton, and horses may gene- 

 rally be had from i/. to ^s. and less. They are difficult to 

 get about harvest time, and the supply seems scanty near the 

 large towns when sausages are in season ! 



The servants immediately connected with the kennels 

 include the kennel huntsman, a feeder, who unites the office 

 of butcher and cook, and a couple of lads. Of the duties of 

 hunt servants, however, we shall proceed to speak in the next 

 chapter. 



