A MASTER OF OTTERHOUNDS 247 



the Rug pack boasted but nine. For most countries 

 anything between ten and fifteen couple of hounds 

 should be regarded as ample. After ten couple, indeed, 

 every extra couple may be regarded as a luxury. At 

 the same time, a good number of hounds will be found 

 absolutely necessary in drawing both banks simulta- 

 neously of wide rivers, like the Tweed or Torridge. 



1 had a very good season in 1902 in Essex with only 

 eleven couple, my hunting pack averaging eight and a 

 half couple. Yet they did two, three, occasionally four 

 days a week, accounting for fifteen out of twenty-seven 

 otters "put off." Small packs are more handy and 

 easier to control, but I confess to liking the look of a 

 big pack except where, in small waters, they get in one 

 another's way. 



The cost of maintaining a pack of, say, fifteen couple 

 is easily reckoned. First, there is the original cost of 

 the hounds themselves. Such a pack may, according 

 to circumstances, cost anything from ;^5o to ;^30o to 

 buy, but a medium price of ;^20o should buy a decent 

 pack. If the thing is worth doing at all it is worth 

 doing well, and there can be neither pleasure nor merit 

 in turning out with a scratch lot of hounds, scratch in 

 every sense of the word, and offensive to both eye and 

 nose ! 



Then there are the licences : 7s. 6d. for each hound, 

 though unentered hounds up to the age of twelve 

 months are exempt. 



As regards the important subject of feeding, the 

 hounds will require, when in hard work, a three- 

 quarter hundredweight bag of hound-meal each day. 



