Lord Portman's. 377 



Pleydell and partly by Mr. Hambro\ In the im- 

 mediate neigLbourhood of Bryanston, too, are several 

 considerable coverts ; in which hounds can work the 

 cubs almost at the kennel door. 



North of Blandford, and again on high ground, you 

 soon enter upon the forest glades and hazel copses of 

 Cranborne Chace — a tract of some seven or eight 

 miles of the Robin-Hood-and-merry-green-wood class, 

 through which the modern fox hound drives lustily, 

 particularly if the weather be wet and fairly warm. 

 Cranborne Chace holds game and riot cf every de- 

 scription, even to roedeer : but foxes seldom failj and 

 hounds and roedeer soon get to treat each other with 

 familiar contempt. 



East of this picturesque district are Lord Alington's 

 large coverts at Crichel ; and beyond these again you 

 come into the " Horton country '^ — a rough but very 

 sporting outskirt of the New Forest. It extends from 

 Wimborne to Cranborne ; has a good deal of heath 

 scattered about it; and is excellent working-ground 

 for hounds. It is in most parts strongly fenced with 

 banks and single ditches — the banks often rotten and 

 treacherous. It holds, however, a good scent when- 

 ever the weather is favourable; and its foxes, if not 

 too plentiful, have the merit of being strong and wild. 

 Long and good runs are, consequently, generally 

 associated with the Horton district. The coverts, of 

 varying size — from plantation to wood — are quite 

 suflScient for all requirements ; and, besides these, 

 there is the heather, in which foxes frequently lie up. 

 For instance, Uddens Bog — on the heath outside the 

 Uddens domain — almost always holds a fox. The 



