THE RACE OF BELVOIR 



blood, and we seldom go anywhere else. Belvoir Weather- 

 gage is our tap-root, and we look to him as sire as much as 

 possible for tongue and drive. They are all-round honest fox- 

 hounds, including constitution. We find them the best, and 

 our forests find them out quickly." The famous Warwickshire 

 hounds have not had much' Belvoir blood of late years, for 

 Lord Willoughby de Broke has built up a pack which 

 combines nearly all the most famous strains, and the hounds 

 have an individuality of their own. The Belvoir, with the 

 Fitzwilliam, Brocklesby, and Quorn, have the honour of 

 contributing to this result, but even so it will be noted that 

 most of the packs named have Belvoir blood in their veins. 

 The same maybe said of the Bramham Moor, the Middleton, 

 the Holderness, the Pytchley, and the Blankney, all of which 

 kennels are largely indebted to the Duke of Rutland's hounds 

 for their fame and excellence. In a very interesting letter 

 from Harry Bonner, late huntsman to the Meynell and 

 formerly whipper-in at Belvoir, it is said " quite one-half of 

 the Meynell hounds have Belvoir blood in their veins " ; and 

 further, Bonner says, " My belief is, no hound ever lived to be 

 so great a benefit to sport as Weathergage. During a good 

 run when I was at Belvoir, I counted eleven couples of 

 Weathergage blood all at the front." Not less complimentary 

 is German Shepherd, the well-known kennel huntsman to 

 Lord Harrington, " Our hounds are nearly all Belvoir. . . . 

 I like the Gambler sort best, and have had more wonderful 

 hounds by the much-abused Shamrock. We have scarcely 

 a hound in the kennel three generations from Belvoir, and 

 don't think they ought to be farther away." If from the 

 midlands we turn to the north, I have a letter telling me 

 of the South Durham, whose kennel huntsman has the 

 honoured name of Will Goodall. This letter is of par- 

 ticular interest to us, for it will be noted that Goodall's 

 opinion coincides with that of German Shepherd, as to 

 Belvoir Shamrock. " You will see," writes Will Goodall, 

 " that our kennel is full of Belvoir blood. We have a lot 

 of the Shamrock blood, though many huntsmen dislike it, 

 saying his stock were slack. All the Shamrocks we have 



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