THE CONDITIONS OF HUNTING. 233 



down during the hunting season, this is not the case every- 

 where, and though a hard-riding field may ride up to hounds 

 over miles of country, they may at any time be thrown out 

 owing to wire, while hounds go straight on. In the poorer 

 hunts far less wire is removed than in the richer establish- 

 ments, and how often during an ordinary season does one read 

 that " the huntsman could not get to hounds owing tO' wire," 

 or that " the field was compelled to make a detour because of 

 such and such a farm being heavily wired." To sum up this 

 part of the subject, wire has interfered with the average hunts- 

 man's duties, has curtailed the pleasure of riding to hounds, 

 and has increased the danger to all who follow hounds from 

 field to field. There are in these days many arrangements 

 whereby the wire trouble is in some degree met. The danger 

 signal, if placed high enough in the fence, so that it is visible 

 a long way off, prevents many a follower from going at the 

 tempting- looking fence which conceals the treacherous cord. 

 Then, too, there is the " invitation " jump, often a bushed 

 hurdle, as in the North Staffordshire country, at other times 

 a low, strongly-built stone wall, as in the Tynedale country. 

 But the invitation jump is not always an unmixed blessing, 

 for it often involves leaving the line of hounds for a time, and 

 where the field is really large the ground sometimes becomes 

 terribly poached and greasy. The fences though easily jump- 

 able, is often very strongly built, and I have myself seen several 

 falls at invitation jumps, which were due to horses slipping as 

 they took off. The low stone wall one finds in parts of the 

 north of England must be cleared, and is a very simple jump, 

 but if a horse hits it he is rather likely to fall for it does not 

 give way like a hurdle. Tt is generally to be found where the 

 actual fence of the field is a stone wall of five feet high and 

 upwards, and with a sta'aiid of wire^ or a sheep-rail on the top, 

 while the made jump is some two feet lower, and has fre- 

 quently a. top of loose gorse bushes, which, if they have not 

 removed on a hunting day, can be pulled out by the handle 

 of a hunting-crop. It will be seen then that all sorts of dodges 

 have been resorted to in order to minimise the wire trouble, 

 and perhaps the simplest of all is the hunting wicket, which, 

 if a well-made one, perhaps suits the average farmer better 

 than the invitation jump. But I have seen many hunting- 



