14 



A GUIDE TO THE 



STAGHOUNDS. 



These are the only hounds in Great Britain that clraAV for^ 

 and hunt the wild deer. The stag or hind (according to the 

 season)^ which is to be pursued, is slotted in, and harboured 

 by a man who receives, after the ancient usage, a guinea fee, 

 and the noble animal is formally roused from his lair ; but 

 when he is not so " harboured,^' " tufters^^ or steady hounds 

 draw the covers, and, when the right game is a-foot, the body 

 of the pack are thrown into the head, and a chace of twenty, 

 twenty-five, or thirty miles is often the result ; a " terrible 

 bm'st" it will be owned when a check from first to last biit 



necessary to explain that on Winsford Common is an extraordinary gulph 

 or basin resembling a punch-bowl, and so called, which often holds a fox, 

 and is a very beautiful and romantic draw. 



