The Sport of Our Ancestors 



drawback to my mind is that when a party goes out, if one party 

 enjoys it the other members have probably had no rides, and so 

 been bored to death.' 



Of course it is difficult to compare one sport with another, 

 as each one has its own peculiar charm. Perhaps the acid 

 test is the length of time for which one sport continues to be 

 amusing. And in this regard Fox-hunting wins in a canter. 

 One cannot imagine going out four or five times a week six 

 or seven months in the year for any sport other than Fox- 

 hunting. Pig-sticking for a fortnight or so every now and 

 again, yes ; but for six months without a break, no. If one 

 were very fit and abstemious one might go out deer-stalking 

 four or five times a week for a fortnight or three weeks with- 

 out getting unduly stale and ceasing to enjoy it. But for 

 six months . . . ? Deer-stalking indeed has something in 

 common with Fox-hunting in that two stalks are never 

 exactly the same. Yet, on the whole, one stalk is more 

 like another stalk than one run with the Foxhounds is like 

 another run. And the reason of this is that most runs 

 bring a constant change of scenery. Sport on foot limits 

 the outlook. 



Deer-stalking is, however, the only field sport in the British 

 Isles besides Fox-hunting that calls for anything like physical 

 endurance. Trying to round up a wild covey of partridges 

 in a grass country where all the fields seem to be not less 

 than a hundred acres is certainly fatiguing and produces a 

 most enviable thirst, but there is nothing in it approaching 

 to exposure or distress. But certain phases of a day's deer- 

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