COLONEL CODSHEAD 301 



close, by having made the most of it while it lasted. Cub 

 hunting was late, owing to the harvest; indeed, in some 

 countries they would scarcely have any ; but when hunting did 

 begin we had a rare and continuous run of it. Hounds could 

 never be said to be fairly stopped, till just as many were think- 

 ing of stopping themselves towards the latter end of March, 

 for, though there were occasional checks in particular districts, 

 yet, as a whole, they were never brought to a stand-still, as 

 they are in decided frosts or regular snow-storms. The 

 weather was various— in most parts fine, in many unseason- 

 ably so. 



At Chiswick the meteorological register kept at the gardens 

 of the Horticultural Society gave a state of weather unprece- 

 dented for many years in December and January, in which 

 latter month Covent-garden exhibited quite a spring-like ap- 

 pearance—primroses, violets (sweet-scented), cowslips, ane- 

 mones, and many of the flowers which in mild seasons usually 

 bloom in the month of February being seen in profusion. The 

 fine weather extended throughout the country. 



The northern papers of the end of January spoke of the 

 mildness of the atmosphere producing a premature effect on 

 vegetation, and said that the thrushes were warbling forth 

 their " wood notes wild" to welcome the return of spring, and 

 altogether it was a most unusually open season. 



The absence of frost was one of its striking characteristics, 

 and with the absence of frost may be noticed the almost total 

 absence of accidents. We never remember a season with so 

 few— no necks, no limbs, scarcely a collar-bone broken. This 

 shows that hunting is not a dangerous amusement if people 

 will only follow it rationally. It makes all the difference in the 

 world whether a man falls on the flags or on a feather bed. It 

 is of no use contending with the adverse elements, nor is there 

 any pleasure in trying to force a season unnaturally into the 

 spring. That man is the best sportsman who knows when to 



