i68 STAG-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 



famous place for hounds No huntsman with Swinley 

 Forest within five hundred yards of his kennels can find an 

 excuse for not having hounds in condition, almost at any 

 season of the year. It is a mere platitude to say that there 

 is nothing like big woodlands to teach a pack of hounds to 

 run together and hunt together. We all know that. But 

 the anomalous and inevitable conditions of hunting the 

 carted deer give to forest hunting a quite particular value. 

 Thanks to the forest, or the forest country, the Queen's 

 Hounds enjoy advantages without compare, and which should 

 be turned to the fullest account. 



Once forest hunting begins, the young entry get their 

 chance. They begin to realise themselves. Life is not to 

 be made up of snubbings from the surly old hounds, of dull 

 constitutionals, of quarrels with Splendour and Streamer, of 

 the unbroken monotony of regular hours, regular meals, and 

 of kennel-life generally, with not nearly so much to do as 

 there was in and about the pleasant farmyard near Woking- 

 ham or Slough. 



During the first two or three days' forest hunting it is ad- 

 visable to check hounds every now and then ; Charles Davis 

 always did this, and his hounds in the forest were said to be 

 as perfect in close hunting as harriers, although he was in 

 the habit of taking out over thirty couple, and a large propor- 

 tion of unentered hounds. It gives the stragglers a chance 

 to get up. But towards the end of October these artificial 

 checks should not be necessary. A hound hates being lost 

 in a great lonely wood with no familiar sights or sounds for 

 miles, and a hound which is always getting lost is either 

 peevish, faint-hearted, or slow, and not worth Scotch oat- 

 meal at 13Z. a ton. The open heather country is a capital 

 test of drive and action. I like to see hounds lay themselves 

 right down over the rough ground or the patches of burnt 

 heather as if it were permanent pasture. Some hounds. 



