124 THE MASTER OF HOUNDS 



mother, but not the good of their father. A constant 

 change of Masters is one of the most serious causes of 

 unevenness in a pack. This is easily understood, for 

 every succeeding Master has preference for a different 

 type of dog, hence the discrepancies. 



Poultry Claiuis. — The question of poultry claims and 

 funds is so vast that it will, in this chapter on the 

 Master's expenditure, be only possible to touch briefly 

 on the working methods of one or two hunts. In the 

 old days, as has already been said, a little tact on the 

 part of the Master made a personal matter of the 

 poultry claim and one easily adjusted to the satisfaction 

 of all parties. Now, however, it has assumed alarming 

 proportions, and I believe I am within the mark if I 

 say that in some of the fashionable hunts ;^5oo or 

 ;^6oo a year would hardly cover it, for it is a lament- 

 able fact that every animal which gets stolen from a 

 farm in the hunting country is put down to the scape- 

 goat fox. There is even a tradition in the Badminton 

 country of vegetables having on one occasion been 

 included in the claim, the account reading thus : — 



say 



To I bull calf . 

 3 sheep 



I litter of pigs . 

 All the poultry . 

 lo acres of vetches 



Total 



When the unhappy Master came to the item of ten 

 acres of vetches, his temper proved unequal to the 



