268 STAG-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 



black and hardly any tan. But this marks and preserves the 

 French foundations of the pack. I saw no regular Badmin- 

 ton badger pie, but several hounds vv^ere of a dark mousey 

 colour, which they call souriot. This means plenty of 

 Badminton blood, and M. de Valon especially esteems the 

 somiots. The Halatte kennel is the only one I saw, as I 

 went to pay the master a visit, and to tell him how much I 

 had enjoyed my day. 1 went down to look at the young 

 entry — les chiens M. — as in many French packs the names 

 of the young entry of each year all begin with some particular 

 letter of the alphabet. As purists the French would be 

 more particular than the fox-hunting English Baronet, who, 

 wishing" to name three own brothers in the usual way, called 

 them Govial, Gowler, and G-alloper, but they stick to this 

 so religiously that some of the names of a large entry do 

 not strike upon the ear agreeably. It is, however, eminently 

 practical, and better perhaps than some of our names, which 

 are quite senseless. I am reminded of a story of a gentleman 

 who heard his huntsman cheering a hound by the name 

 of ' Lyman.' ' What,' he asked, ' does Lyman mean ? ' 

 ' Lord, sir,' said the huntsman, ' what does anything mean ? ' 

 It was a very w^et afternoon, but the establishment struck 

 me as being purpose-like and practical. They do not enter 

 their young hounds until February, as they usually come in 

 from the walks in poor condition. I noticed two things 

 particularly about the Halatte hounds — their ability to gallop 

 fast with their noses down, and their whip sterns. As to the 

 latter, I said to myself, here at last are the whip sterns which 

 were Charles Davis's secret, and which gave the Queen's 

 hounds their particular distinction in the days of the giants. I 

 was much disappointed when I found that their racy appear- 

 ance was the result of scissors and a fortnightly trimming. As 

 to the other point, I instanced it to a hunting gentleman with 

 whom I travelled up from Chantilly two or three days later, 



