SPORT 



nized pack of otter-hounds that had ever 

 taken place in Kent or Sussex. Some two 

 or three hundred people turned out to meet 

 the pack, and ever since that day the venture 

 has been warmly supported both in Kent 

 and Sussex. The pack hunts the whole of 

 the former county, as well as the latter as far 

 west as Midhurst, and a portion of Sussex 

 in the neighbourhood of Horley. 



For the most part the rivers of Kent are 

 deep, muddy and very much overgrown, 

 the few exceptions to the general rule 

 being provided in the case of the Stour, 

 Darent, and upper reaches of the Medway, 

 where the water is very much clearer and less 

 overgrown. Under these circumstances it 

 is frequently a very difficult matter to score 

 a kill ; but for the drag the country is very 

 well adapted on the whole, and blank days 

 with the Crowhurst are the exception rather 

 than the rule. Besides the waters already 

 mentioned, the pack hunts the Teise, Beult, 

 Eden, East and West Sussex Rothers, Ouse, 

 Adur, Arun, Rudwell, and the Mole and 

 tributaries. 



The Crowhurst Otter-hounds are a sub- 

 scription pack with about three hundred 

 regular subscribers. The committee consists 

 of nearly every well-known sportsman in 

 Kent and Sussex, including such famous 

 hunting men as the Hon. Ralph Nevill, who 

 in his more active days was in all probability 

 the best man with hounds in the two counties. 

 In 1905 the pack killed five and a half brace 

 of otters, which is about the usual average 

 for the season, and seldom went out without 

 finding. Most of the meets are within 

 reach of London by the early morning trains. 



Since the pack was established there have 

 been a few changes in the officials. Mr. 

 Mantell's mastership came to an end in 1904, 

 when Mrs. Walter Cheesman herself assumed 

 the duties of master, remaining in that posi- 

 tion until 1907, when Mr. S. W. Varndell 

 was appointed in her stead. The latter 

 had formerly held the post of huntsman in 

 succession to Leach, his previous experience 

 having been gained with Mr. Courtenay 

 Tracy's famous pack, to which he had 

 whipped-in for some time. The kennels of 

 the pack have now been moved from Crow- 

 hurst to Mowshurst Farm near Edenbridge 

 in Kent. 



Several years ago it appears that a scratch 

 pack of otter-hounds hunted these waters 

 under the direction of the Hon. Geoffrey 

 Hill; and Mr. F. P. M. Maryon-Wilson, 

 an officer in the 17th Lancers, \\ho died 

 in 1893, used to hunt the Ouse and its 

 tributaries. But, as has already been stated, 

 the Crowhurst Otter-hounds are the first 

 properly recognized pack to hunt the dis- 

 trict. 



Of earlier otter-hunting than this in the 

 county there is no record, and in olden times 

 otters were simply regarded here, as else- 

 where, as vermin with a price put upon their 

 head, and fair game to every murderously 

 inclined individual who chanced to come 

 across them. Matters are not quite so bad 

 as that nowadays, but the killing of otters 

 other than in fair pursuit is not yet looked 

 upon as a crime equal to that of vulpicide. 

 The man who shoots or traps an otter gener- 

 ally regards it, indeed, as a deed worthy of 

 record in the local newspaper. 



COURSING 



Public coursing in Kent seems to be of 

 comparatively recent origin, for Goodlake 1 

 makes no mention of any meeting held 

 within the county. Reference to Thacker's 

 Courser's Annual Remembrancer and Stud 



to landed proprietors and their tenantry, 

 whenever the latter were permitted to keep 

 greyhounds. The writer can vouch for the 

 accuracy of the following story, which throws 

 some light upon early coursing in one portion 



Book, published from 1840 to 1858, also fails of the county. The Island of Elmley- 



to provide enlightenment, for not a single 

 fixture is recorded during the period named ; 

 and not until 1867 is there any record of 

 sport provided by the* Coursing Calendar, 

 the first number of which was issued in 1857. 

 It is clear, therefore, that such coursing 

 as did take place in the first half of the last 

 century or before must have been confined 



1 Thomas Goodlake, The Co 

 Stud Book, Liverpool, 1828. 



Mciiuiiil or 



now connected with Thanet — was in olden 

 days a favourite rendezvous for coursing men. 

 There was but one church on the island, and 

 that a very ancient one and in sad need of 

 repair. The ravages of time had eaten away 

 its foundations, so much so that in several 

 places it was easy for an animal as large as 

 a hare to run in and out beneath the building. 

 Nearly every hare in the island knew of this 

 safe hiding-place, and whenever coursing 

 was in progress the hares made straight for 

 491 



