MR. EDW.lRD FALRP.IX STIT)D 141 



and shewed most excellent sport. Many things 

 conduced to this result. The noaster threw himself 

 into his task with all his wonted energy and gave a 

 great deal of |>ersonal attention to the affairs of the 

 hunt. He was very popular and had the advantage 

 of an equally pcpular honorary secretary in the 

 person of Mr. F. Short, who continued in that post. 

 The season was a very good scenting one, and 

 incidentally a ver\" wet one ; and the country was 

 thoroughly weU stocked with foxes, only two blank 

 days, and those ver\- wild ones, being recorded. 

 Xotwithstanding this, the number of kil ls amounted 

 only to ten-and-a-half brace, a fact which will be 

 imderstood by those who know what a hoUow 

 country the Haldon is. It is almost safe to say there 

 is either an artificial drain or a natural earth in every 

 covert of consequence, and Mr. Studd was not of a 

 temperament to care for the tedious operation of 

 digging, or his total of kills for this season might have 

 been far higher. 



In those days, the country was very open. There 

 was hardly a strand of wire of any sort on Haldon 

 except the old boundary fence at Lidwell, which was 

 well gated ; a great contrast to the present day, 

 when miles of barbed wire exist without fulfilling any 

 useful function. Pheasant -rearing, too, was on a very 

 much smaller scale then, and very few shootings 

 were let. 



After such a satisfactory season it was only natural 

 that the hunt should have asked Mr. Studd to 

 continue for a second year, and no difficulty was 

 experienced in raising the stipulated subscription of 

 £400. Sir John Duntze then formally presented his 

 pack to Mr. Studd. 



The second season was as successful as the first. 



