WITH A STRANGE PACK 177 



of the visit and not the crowd. Therefore it is 

 as well to avoid what is known as the fashionable 

 meets. For my own part, when visiting a strange 

 pack I like to get into that part of the country 

 where the individuality of hounds and huntsman 

 has the best chance of showing itself. Over a fine 

 grass country, with a flying scent, and a hard- 

 riding field behind them there is less difference 

 between the various packs than when in the country 

 in which they most frequently hunt, and there is 

 also less chance of seeing hounds work. I know 

 men who will not go on to the wolds or the moors 

 in the country which is peculiarly their own, and 

 who, when their own pack is in what is to them 

 an undesirable locality, take the opportunity of 

 paying a visit to a neighbouring pack. These 

 gentlemen lose more than they wot of. Certainly 

 there is much pleasure to be gained from a good 

 run over wold or moor, and hunting in each place 

 has peculiarities which cannot fail to strike any 

 observant eye. Indeed, I know of no prettier 

 sight than hounds running hard over a moor, 

 which they generally do in the spring. The 

 proper time to visit the wolds, especially if there 

 should be, as is frequently the case, a large pro- 

 portion of plough on them, is before Christmas, 

 indeed, as early in November as possible, for 

 though the wolds often have a bad name as scent- 

 ing ground, they generally carry a good scent after 

 the October rains have come, and before they are 

 ploughed. When the plough has done its work, 

 as on all light ploughed land, scent is uncertain. 

 But a day in the plough country is sure to be 

 appreciated by the lover of hounds. If a large 

 portion of the country of the pack to be visited 



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