30 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



February, at which time the male Foumarts had begun to run 

 in search of their mates. ' Long before the appointed time 

 (ten o'clock at night) lots of hunters and hounds had appeared, 

 and a large fire was light up (sic) till all who were expected arrived. 

 At the time mentioned not a cloud was above the horizon, nor a 

 breath of wind upon the hills : the great and little Bears were 

 swinging round the polar star that marked the north, whilst 

 the grand constellation of Orion was shining in all its bright- 

 ness, and the glorious Jupiter glittering in silvery magnificence 

 over the western hills. The hounds threw off above Colthouse, 

 and soon a merry cry proclaimed that game was stirring, and 

 over the hills flew the hounds, the hunters following as fast as 

 they could, over ice and rocks, sometimes up and sometimes 

 down, but on they went regardless of every difficulty, for the 

 wilder the danger the sweeter the chase. The hounds ran the 

 game merrily through part of the plantation of H. Curwen, Esq., 

 and to Pete Crags ; then they scaled the Scale, where the hunters 

 looked down upon Windermere flowing majestically through 

 the valley beneath, while the amphitheatre of hills on the 

 eastern side combined to make a noble and interesting land- 

 scape ; from hence they ran through the Sawrey valleys, where 

 the hounds made a turn near Sawrey, and ran to a place called 

 Old Intack, where the Foulmart holed, and as the hunters did 

 not wish to destroy the creature which had afforded this 

 " glorious chase," it was left undisturbed, and as the morning 

 was now far advanced, each took his way home, to dream over 

 again the pleasures of the night.' 1 It is probable that on this 

 occasion a junction had been arranged of the Ambleside and 

 Kendal hounds and those of the late Mr. George Eomney. 



The sport when pursued on our lower grounds must have 

 lacked the pleasurable risk of slides and falls over rocks and 

 ' screes,' which enhanced the enjoyment of night-runs over the 

 fell lands, but the pace was more severe. 



Mr. T. Coward of Carlisle, who, as an enthusiastic Lakeland 

 sportsman, has taken the kindest interest in the present essay, esti- 

 mates that he killed about 250 head of Foumarts in different parts 

 of the Lake district during a period of five-and-twenty years. 

 1 Westmorland Gazette, Feb. 15, 1845. 



