142 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT 



and comprised a great number of excellent runs. 

 Eleven brace of foxes were killed, and twelve-and-a- 

 half brace run to ground. Out of the fifty-seven 

 hunting days in the season proper, four only were 

 blank, and on the others sixty-three foxes were 

 hunted. 



These two seasons of Mr. Studd's first mastership 

 shew what can be done with a small establishment. 

 The pack at the end of the first cubhunting season 

 numbered twenty-eight couple and a half, but the 

 withdrawal by Mr. Whidborne of the eight couple 

 belonging to him on the severance of the partnership, 

 left Mr. Studd with only twenty-and-a-half couple 

 with which to start the season, and this in a country 

 where the flints and dwarf gorse are notoriously 

 trying to the feet of hounds, and at a time of year 

 when drafts were not easily obtainable. True, the 

 distances to covert were not as great as those with 

 which Mr. Whidborne had to contend beyond the 

 Teign ; but for all that, the days were mostly long 

 ones, since the master would never stop drawing as 

 long as there was any chance of a run. What hounds 

 there were, however, were good, and representative 

 of some of the best kennels, and they had the advan- 

 tage of condition and of knowing each other, the 

 latter point being one that is sometimes overlooked 

 in kennels where breeding is carried on to an extent 

 greater than is warranted by the number of hunting 

 days. Allowing for casualties and the usual cases of 

 temporary absence or disablement, it was very 

 creditable to the huntsman that he was generally 

 able to put in the field from fifteen to seventeen 

 couple. On occasion, towards the end of the season, 

 his pack would be much smaller, as on the 21st March 

 when twelve couple only raced into a Culver fox in 



