4 HUNTING REMINISCENCES 



did improve the ducal lines were those possessing 

 a large amount of the blood from which the 

 Belvoir is said to have originated, the Fitzwilliam 

 and the Brocklesby being two noticeable instances. 

 It has been a great point not to breed from kennels 

 with a variety of blood in them, and whenever 

 there was such an experimental trial, the produce 

 was seldom of a sufficient Belvoir type to get an 

 entry. No pack has risen to a state of high repute 

 when there has been a constant change of hunts- 

 men. The Belvoir have been fortunate with but 

 four huntsmen in a hundred years, and to this fact 

 they owe their position as the greatest pack of fox- 

 hounds in the world. 



A very striking feature of the Belvoir pack is 

 their strong family hkeness, their high -class and 

 wonderful evenness, which is quite unapproached 

 elsewhere. The kennel stands almost alone in 

 having depended entirely on its own breeding for 

 more than seventy years. No hounds have been 

 purchased during that time, and the rule to breed 

 from only the best working hounds has proved 

 a sound one — goo(d qualities cultivated through 

 many generations being transmitted to their off- 

 spring. There may be diversities of opinions, or 

 rather of taste, concerning size and colour in fox- 

 hounds, but there can be but one standard as 

 regards beauty of outline, and the very important 

 formation of shoulders, backs, loins, thighs, legs, 

 and feet, which are so captivating and characteristic 

 of the beautiful Belvoir blood. 



For twenty-six seasons Frank Gillard ruled the 



