THE TYNEDALE COUNTRY. 139 



not inclosed, and is what in Ireland wooild he< called a " wild 

 gorse," but it is an extraordinarily good covert, and during 

 a period of several seasons when I saw a good deal of the> Tyne- 

 dale, I do not. remember that I ever siaw it drawn blank. 

 Moreover, I remember one very good hunt from it, when 

 hounds ran north toi Great Ryall, over the Moot Law, and 

 to Fairshaw, the iox, if I recollect rightly, going 

 toi groiund in the earth, which, being a long way out- 

 side the draw arranged for the day, was unstopped. The 

 point of this run must have been something like eight miles. 

 Taking a line due north from the kennels means following the 

 Watling Street, which hereabouts rung almost straight from 

 south to noirth. or vice versa. Perhaps the greater part of the 

 Monday country is east of this road, and notably the district 

 which is near the kennels. There are good coverts round 

 Sandhoe and Beaufront, for example, which seeim to belong 

 toi the Wednesday countiry, buti there is a whin covert just' over 

 the northern boundary of the common, and west of the Wat- 

 ling Street, which is often drawn from a kennel meet, and 

 the name of which I have for the moment forgotten. Butlers 

 Whin on the military road, and a mile further north, is a 

 rattling good covert, but my experience is that it is usually 

 reserved for Wednesday meets at Beaufront or St. Oswalds. 

 East, of the kennels and south of the military road— which 

 extends from Newcastle-on-Tyne to Chollerford on the North 

 Tyne and beyond — therei are good coverts at. Shildon Bog and 

 Shildon Hill, the last-named indeed being one of the best 

 oovertis in the hunt, and, I think, on the Matfen Estatio. The 

 usual meet, for these coverts is Matfen Piers, a farmho>uss on 

 the military road, four miles north-east of Corb ridge and two 

 miles &out.h of thei village of INIatfen. These coverts maiy be 

 drawn also from meets at Newton Village or Newton Hall, 

 but one associates them chiefly v/ith the Matfen oovertiS. 

 Shildon Bog is a considerable etxtent of swampy ground which 

 lies west of Shildon Hill. There are dry places on it much 

 favoured by foxes, and it is a prettiy draw, for nearly every 

 fox which lea,ves when hounds draw it musti do so in full view 

 of the field. Shildon Hill is a fir plantation with a gorse 

 cover inside, and from it foxes go to all parts of the country. 

 Another covert a mile or two west of Shildon Hill, and ako 



