SOME ENGLISH COURSING CLUBS 217 



club. The meeting generally takes place early in December, 

 and is therefore often postponed ; but when the weather is 

 right, no more enjoyable fixture exists for those who are stimu- 

 lated by the air of the Cheviot Hills, and who do not mind 

 roughing it to a certain extent. 



Dealing with the other grounds in vogue with the North of 

 England Club, Bothal and North Seaton have been treated 

 of in the account of the BothalClub. West Rainton, near 

 Leamside, in Durham, is another very favourite spot for one-day 

 meetings. The ground lies so handy for all the big northern 

 towns that it is easily reached from Newcastle, &c., on the 

 morning of coursing, and the programmes usually consist of a 

 sixteen and two eights, with sometimes a supplementary stake. 

 Hares are very numerous, despite the fact that the neighbour- 

 hood is a densely populated one, and good coursing generally 

 ensues. The class of greyhound competing here is not, how- 

 ever, so good as at Ripon or Eslington, and the meeting may 

 be said to be of local interest only. The same remark applies 

 to the fixture held over Sir William Eden's Windlestone estate, 

 but at Catterick and Scorton, in Yorkshire, larger programmes 

 and of better class are to be found. At both the last-named 

 fixtures two-day meetings are held, but the enclosures are 

 smaller than those coursed over at the Rainton (Ripon) 

 gathering, and the meetings, generally speaking, of a less im- 

 portant character. New ground, too, is being constantly 

 requisitioned by Mr. Snowdon, and, in addition to the places 

 I have mentioned, there were last season meetings at Rushey- 

 ford, Lumley and Washington, in the county of Durham, and 

 at Londonderry in the North Riding. Good ground has 

 been used by the club where coursing no longer takes place, 

 and I may mention Minsteracres in South Northumberland, 

 where a large and important meeting was held for many years, 

 and Flotterton in Coquetdale, where the coursing in the time 

 of the late Mr. Weallans was exceptionally good. It happens 

 sometimes at the larger meetings of the club, that there are 

 nominations to spare., and if that is the case, non-members are 



