THE MORPETH COUNTRY. 169 



House, when no fewer than sixty scarlets were counted by a 

 lady member of the hunt. Of the sport on that day I 

 remember that hounds divided, and that the section I followed 

 had a pretty forty minutes, going south to the Blagdon 

 Co^/erts, and also that the rain of the afternoon was heavy 

 enough to go through the thickest of hunting clothes. I must 

 add that whenever I have been tQ the Morpeth country I have 

 always found an exceptionally pleasant — and perhaps I may 

 add jovial — field. The stranger was made welcome in a 

 manner that is greatly appreciated, and offers of hospitality 

 were as numerous as foxes in the coverts. The Morpeth 

 have the advantage of a very efficient secretary in Mr. F. 

 Straker, of Angerton Hall, a brother of the Masters of the 

 Tynedale and Zetland Hunts, and there is a wonderful system 

 all over the country for dealing with wire, poultry damage, 

 and so forth, which was inaugurated some years ago. The 

 country is parcelled out into districts, about thirty, I believe, 

 and each district is looked after by a member of the hunt, 

 many of the men who act being themselves farmers. The 

 upshot is that matters are made very smooth for the hard 

 riders of the hunt, and the system — which, by the way, is 

 now in vogue on somewhat similar lines in many hunts — 

 might well be copied where wire is troublesome and the means 

 of dealing with it vague. In these days it is of little use 

 fighting against what appears to be the cheapest form of fenc- 

 ing, but there are few places in v/hich arrangements for taking 

 the wire down during the hunting season cannot be made, 

 and the system of making small districts with one man to look 

 after each of them seems to be absolutely the best plan which 

 it is possible to adopt. 



