i88i — 1885. 97 



four of the best hounds in the pack were killed by 

 falling- over the cliffs ; so altogether luck was against 

 the staghounds in the autumn of 1884. 



Nevertheless, the season was a very good one for 

 sport, though unlucky in the matter of blood. An un- 

 usually large number of hinds were lost for want of a 

 little more daylight, and the total number of deer 

 killed was smaller than had been known since 1879. 

 None the less the deer were still too numerous for 

 sport, and it was plain that they could not be reduced 

 unless the hunting country were not somewhat limited 

 from its present wide rang^e. 



In fact very few people appreciate how large the 

 stag-hunting country is. Within one week of the 

 season of 1885 the hounds were hunting deer at Steert 

 Point, close to Bridgwater, and at Martinhoe, places 

 thirty-six miles apart by a straight line drawn across 

 the map, and not much less than fifty miles by road. 

 Moreover, in the same season hounds actually ran 

 across almost this entire space of country, e.g.^ on one 

 day from Martinhoe to Scob Hill, on another from Scob 

 Hill to Minehead, on a third from the Quantocks to 

 Watchet, and on a fourth from the Quantocks to 

 Steert Point. Thus only the short distance between 

 Minehead and Watchet was left uncrossed in this 



H 



