viii THE SPORT OF KINGS 



their integrity, there are constantly variations 

 springing up which call for remark and, per- 

 haps, criticism. Hunting is ever fresh and new, 

 and though I have now entered on my forty-first 

 hunting season, I have, I hope, learned something 

 worth knowing since I saw hounds for the first 

 time this season at Venniford Post. I would 

 impress upon the man with limited hunting ex- 

 perience that he ought to learn something about 

 the sport that he loves every day that he is out. 

 And he will learn something every day if he keeps 

 his eyes open and thinks. 



It has been thought best to make the hunting 

 year start with an account of puppy walking, for 

 without the young hounds being well and carefully 

 walked, sport would soon be at a discount. Besides 

 which I know of nothing which gives greater 

 pleasure to the true sportsman than to see the 

 hound he has walked running at the head of 

 the pack. The training of the hunter, the 

 chase of the wild red deer, the long exercise, 

 and the earlier days of cub-hunting follow each 

 other by natural succession. Subjects incidental 

 to fox-hunting when the season is in full swing 

 are then considered, and " April Hunting on the 

 Moors," " Hunter Breeding," and " The Future 

 of Fox-Hunting " come in for notice, whilst there 

 is a chapter on Peterborough Hound Show, which 

 well marks the boundary between one season and 

 another. 



W. S. D. 



