THE 

 SOUTH DEVON HUNT 



INTRODUCTION 



Nimrod on Devonshire hunting — His li mi tations as a critic — ^Satisfaction 

 of overcoming diiiiculties — Dialect and nomenclature — Character of the 

 cotmtry — Moor and " In-country " — Limits of the hunt — Banks and 

 •walls — Scenting qualities — Wet weather on Haldon — Scent on Dart- 

 moor — " Hectors of the Moor " — Fasciaation of Dartmoor — Exmoor 

 and Dartmoor contrasted — Wire — Attitude of new landowners — Ignor- 

 ance of country usage — Mire and bog — An unpleasant adventure — The 

 right type of hound — Difference of opinion — Patience versus pace — A 

 hunt without a pack of its own — Type of horse — Mr. Whidbome's stamp 

 — Harriei^ and foxhounds as neighbours — The Dart Vale and Haldon — 

 Dearth of hunting landowners — Shooting tenants and their keepers — A 

 claim for find-money — Question of legal Habihty — Decision of the 

 court — The farmers good friends to hunting — Damsige fund — Generous 

 behaviour of Mr. Ward-Wreford — Presentation on his retirement — 

 Financial difficulties — Subscription — Ethics of capping — Mr. Reginald 

 Herbert's opinion — The field — Unbroken succession of masters — Loans 

 of cotmtry — Plem of present work — Difficulties of treatment — Chrono- 

 logical table of masters. 



"Devonshire is, certainly, the worst htmting country I ever was in. . . . 

 It is the only county in which I have heard a pack of hoimds called a 

 ' cry of dogs,' or a cow called a buUock." (Ximrod's Hunting Tours.) 



" "VTIMRGD " was undoubtedly a first-rate judge 

 -L 1 of hunting. He made the sport his busi- 

 ness, and, in the course of it, visited nearly every 

 hunt in Great Britain. Yet his criticism of Devon- 

 shire hunting leaves Devonians unmoved. For not 

 only was Ximrod — thorough sportsman though he 

 was — more of a riding man than a hoimd man, but 

 if we in the far West are denied the mad ecstasy of 

 '* leading the cream of the cream in the Shire of 



