182 Hunting Countries of England. 



meet. Eaton Wood itself is a large stretch of timber 

 on the hillside overlooking the Dove, and is a sare 

 find. Here, by the way, is a heronry ; and it is 

 curious, when spring-hunting is still going on, to 

 look upward at the outstretched limbs of the herons, 

 as they try in vain to accommodate their length of leg 

 to their narrow nests. Wardly Coppice, a wood of 

 some ten acres, is close to Eaton Wood ; and with it 

 we have nearly exhausted the Derbyshire portion of 

 the Meynell country. 



South of the River Dove is, as we have alreadj^ 

 observed, the Staffordshire half of the Meynell 

 country, and it is hunted on Mondays and Saturdays. 

 Hitherto the Burton neighbourhood has been chosen 

 for Mondays, the Uttoxeter and C hartley side for 

 Saturdays. In future, however (in order to suit the 

 convenience of a large number of subscribers in and 

 around Burton), it is intended to reverse the two days. 

 For present purposes we will retain the old denomi- 

 nation, and call the Burton side their Monday country. 



Briefly, then, the main features of the territory 

 below the Dove are the two great woodlands known 

 as Bagot's Park and the Forest Banks (or Needwood 

 Forest) — the two running into each other and covering 

 many miles of ground. Bagot Park, the property of 

 Lord Bagot, but containing no residence, is on the 

 south bank of the Dove, is celebrated for its grand 

 timber, and contains, besides other large coverts, no 

 less than fifteen hundred acres of wood in one piece. 

 Here, too, is a large heronry. Forest Banks stretch 

 round southwards over the whole centre of the country 

 below the river — almost the entire distance between 



