OPINIONS OF NOTED COURSERS 163 



was allowed to run loose in a pit village till Snowflight had 

 made a name for him ; while Misterton was carefully managed, 

 the best of mates were found for him, and a word was never 

 wanted to illustrate the excellence of his produce. 



We add, as a sort of rough guide, the number of times in which 

 each of the sires named appears in a collection of pedigrees of 

 the winning strains of modern days. It must be noted that it 

 cannot be accepted as a criterion of the success of each dog, for 

 the above reasons ; besides which, the latest sires are credited 

 with winners whose excellence in breeding has not yet been 

 proved. The older sires occur only as the parents of those who 

 preserved their names in the annals of breeding, not of running. 

 Still, some interest may attach itself to the list : 



Misterton . . . 168 i Ptarmigan . . .40 



Greentick . .87 



Canaradzo , . .68 



Macpherson . . -59 



Patent . . . . 52 



Bedfellow . . 50 



Clyto . . . .49 



Cauld Kail . . -45 



Jester . . . .39 



Brigadier . -36 



Cardinal York . - 35 



Cashier . . . '33 



Pinkerton . . . 31 



Strange Idea . . .27 



Bothal Park . . .27 



Contango . . . 40 ! King Death . . .22 



The following are rather before 1860 : 



David 45 



Judge 35 



Bedlamite .32 



We now come to those questions which relate to coursing 

 in general, and first we will go over the answers received to 

 question No. 5, viz. 'In your opinion have greyhounds im- 

 proved or deteriorated of late years ? To what do you attribute 

 such improvement or deterioration ? ' 



There is a strong balance of opinion that pace has improved, 

 but that pluck and determination have deteriorated, and 

 many prominent coursers have attributed this state of things 

 to the run on enclosed coursing, which lasted till the obvious 

 evils arising therefrom, and the great danger that threatened 



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