292 THE NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE HOUNDS. 



hiintsman and whips in pink, perhaps some ten or twelve 

 real sportsmen in tweeds, all out for sport, and not for 

 show ; no crowd, no tight boots or top -hats. What can be 

 more deli o-htf ul or more wholesome than this ? Neverthe- 

 less, it is rather melancholy to think how few will take 

 the ti'ouble to get up early and see for themselves what it 

 is like. Besides all this, every now and again you may 

 find yoiu'self (especially in the latter part of the cubbing 

 time) riding after a real sporting customer, who will give 

 you quite as good and fast a gallop across the open country 

 as you will get four or five weeks later, when tlie regular 

 hunting comes in with the month of November. We need 

 scarcely say that in North Stafi'ord shire cub-hunting forms 

 a really important item in the programme. In a favour- 

 able season, when corn is forward, and the ground not 

 too hard or dry, the North Staffordshire Hounds begin 

 early and stick to it right up to the end of October, 

 often putting in four days a week for ten or twelve 

 weeks. 



So far as our experience extends, we should suppose 

 there are not many hunting countries with such an area of 

 laro^e woodlands as the North Stafi'ord country. We 

 have already briefly alluded to this in the chapter on 

 the general characteristics of the country ; but we may, 

 perhaps, be allowed to refer again to some of the chief 

 woodlands in this connection. The very extensive woods 

 near Eccleshall, known as the Bishop's Woods and Burnt 

 Woods, extending altogether, we believe, to something- 

 like one thousand one hundred acres, part belonging to the 

 Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and part to the Hon. JMrs. 

 Meynell Ingram, are perhaps the largest coverts in the 

 North Stafford country, and are often visited in the cubbing- 

 season. Then there are Swynnerton Old Park and Harley 

 Thorn, with the heath and common adjoining, altogether 

 somewhere about eight hundred acres, belono;in2r to ]\Ir. 

 Basil FitzHerbert ; these coverts are only about two miles 

 from the kennels, and have often done good service to the 

 Hunt, both in cub- hunting and the regular season. The 



