The Sportswoman's Library.

Vol. I.

THE MARCHIONESS OF WORCESTER.

THE SPORTSWOMAN'S LIBRARY.

EDITED BY FRANCES E. SLAUGHTER.

VOLUME I.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS AND OLD PRINTS.

WESTMINSTER:
ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE & CO.,
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS,
1898.

DEDICATED
BY PERMISSION TO THE
MARCHIONESS OF WORCESTER
A KEEN SPORTSWOMAN AND WIFE
OF ONE OF THE FOREMOST
SPORTSMEN OF THE AGE.

BIRMINGHAM:
PRINTED AT THE GUILD PRESS, 45, GREAT CHARLES STREET.

THE SPORTSWOMAN'S LIBRARY.

Vol. I.

Contents.

[PREFACE.]

When I look at the completed MSS. of the first volumes of the Sportswomans' Library, I feel deeply grateful to the many good sportswomen who have aided me in my work, not only for the great stores of practical knowledge they have brought to bear on the several subjects of which we have treated, but for the way in which they have collaborated with me. For this my warmest thanks are due to them one and all.

The object we have placed before us, is to give women the information and help they are not likely to find in those books, which are written chiefly from a man's point of view, and we have therefore avoided, as far as possible, trenching on ground that has been already adequately covered by those who, to sportsmen and sportswomen alike, are the best authorities on the various subjects. If, therefore, our writings sometimes seem to be wanting in completeness, it is, I venture to think, to be attributed to this cause.

When I first gathered round me the body of contributors, some of whom were personally unknown to me, I could but feel that the many threads I held in my hand might prove to be a very "tangled skein," before the work was brought to completion. This foreboding, however, I am glad to say, was entirely without foundation, for each writer threw herself into her part with such genuine determination to do the best she could for the matter of her work, that the minor details as to the manner in which it should be given to the world, did not assume undue proportions, and there has been nothing to throw the slightest shadow over the harmony in which we have worked. That the effort we have thus jointly made to give some help to our sister-sportswomen may be successful, is to wish the writers the best reward they can have, for the labour they have bestowed.

Besides my fellow workers, I have a debt of gratitude to discharge to all who have so kindly assisted me in my work. Foremost among these I must acknowledge the valuable help given by Lady Gifford, Mrs. Pryse-Rice, Mrs. Cheape, and Miss Lloyd, of Bronwydd, without whose assistance I could not have ventured to write on the subject of Hare-Hunting: by Mr. T. F. Dale, author of The Game of Polo, whose great practical knowledge of sport has made him an invaluable referee on many important questions: by another good sportsman, Captain the Hon. R. C. Drummond, who generously gave me the benefit of his advice on matters which have been a life-long study to him: by Elizabeth, Lady Wilton; Lady Theodora Guest, Lady Gerard, Lady Dorothy Coventry, Mrs. Wrangham, Mrs. T. E. Harrison, Miss Serrell, Mr. C. H. Bassett, late Master of the Devon and Somerset Staghounds; Mr. Ian Heathcoat-Amory, Master of the Tiverton Staghounds; Mr. W. L. Wyllie, A.R.A.; Miss Maud Earl, Miss Walrond, Mr. Cuthbert Bradley, Dr. Lewis Mackenzie, Miss Florence Ritson, and Mrs. Dudley Smith.

I must also acknowledge the help so readily given by Mr. Charles Lancaster, and Messrs. Holland and Holland, on the sport with which their names are so closely connected, and I must thank those photographers who have exercised their skill on our behalf, viz.: Messrs. Lombardi and Co., who, from the first, have helped us largely; Messrs. Lambert Weston, J. Weston and Son, Stuart, Becken, and A. Debenham.

My thanks are also due to the Proprietors of Baily's Magazine, The Field, The Gentlewoman, and The Lady's Pictorial for the use of blocks which have been re-produced in their pages.

Lastly, I must discharge the debt of gratitude I owe Messrs. A. Constable and Co., for the unfailing courtesy I have met with at their hands, and for the hearty way in which they have thrown themselves into the interests of the book.

Whether we have all succeeded in our object, viz., to give clear, practical directions to women in the several out-door recreations of which we have written, it is for our readers to determine, and on their verdict will depend the extension of our plan to other branches of sports and pastimes.

To the great body of sportsmen, who so far have held almost undisputed sway in the realm of sporting literature, I would plead:

"Softly, my Masters!
Do me this right—hear me with patience."

The Editor.

Beeding,

March 31st, 1898.

Lombardi and Co. MISS FRANCES SLAUGHTER. 13, Pall Mall, East.

[ENGLISHWOMEN AND SPORT.]

In all ages of the world's history, women have taken part in the out-door recreations in which men have ever delighted, the extent to which they have joined in these health-giving exercises being regulated, by the amount of freedom and independence allowed to the sex, by the unwritten laws of the spirit of the age. In a consideration of the subject that is rather suggestive than attempting to deal with the matter in any final sense, we can perhaps trace in the easiest way the position held by women in the world of sport, at different epochs of our history, by seeing how the subject was regarded by the authors of the period.

In the romances of the middle ages—to go no further back in our researches—sport for all divisions of the upper classes of society was regarded with a favourable eye. The nobles, the superior clergy, and the dames of high degree had their deeds of prowess in the field extolled by the literary lights of the time. For a noble not to care for hunting was considered nothing less than a disgrace, while the clergy were expected to require the relaxation of the chase, and to them was given the right to hunt in their own parks and enclosures. Of this privilege they seem to have availed themselves to some purpose, as at the time of the Reformation the see of Norwich is said to have possessed no less than thirteen deer parks. The wives of the nobles and those who ruled over the religious houses for women, seem to have had an almost equal amount of liberty in sharing in these recreations, and in organising hunts for themselves. The doings of these gay dames—for the religious habit seems to have made but little difference—are extolled by the poets, and if the feats recorded of them are true, they must not only have been accomplished horsewomen but very keen and determined huntresses. On many occasions, we are told, they organised hunting parties, "winding the horn, rousing the game and pursuing it by themselves." Nor, in spite of what it is the fashion of the present time to say of that period of our history, do the stay-at-home embroidery-loving dames come in for the same share of praise at the hands of the old writers.

In hawking especially women were proficient, and one scribe even tells us that they excelled their husbands and brothers in the knowledge and exercise of the art of falconry, from which, however, he deduces the ungallant conclusion that the pastime was to be regarded as "frivolous and effeminate."

At the time of the great revival of letters, the art of falconry was at the height of its popularity, and both in England and in other countries of Europe it was the rule for women of noble birth to train, handle, and fly their own hawks. It was the seventeenth century which saw the decay of this sport as a royal and aristocratic amusement, for though in the early years of the age it was still the most popular form of recreation in the field, by the time the following century had dawned it was all but extinct.

After this, during the eighteenth century, there is no doubt that the prowess of women in the field suffered an eclipse, and the few bold spirits who from time to time broke through the trammels that restrained their less enterprising sisters, were regarded with a certain amount of suspicion and distrust. To come to the days when the writings of Sir Walter Scott opened up a new field of enchantment to his readers, we know that his creation of Di Vernon needed excuse at the hands of the author for her sport-loving tastes, as the presumption was against her being a true specimen of the "womanly" woman, in the best sense of the word.

Whyte Melville, entirely devoted to the chase as he was himself, is yet doubtful of the place of his heroines in the hunting field, and in his well-known novel, Kate Coventry, he seems to consider it a reasonable condition on the part of the man Kate is about to marry, that she should give up hunting when she becomes his bride. In the pages of Surtees, which give such a vivid picture of the fox-hunter's life in the first half of the century, the woman who hunts is nearly always an adventuress, while in the social sketches of Trollope sport has no place in the life of his otherwise charming heroines.

But gradually and surely women once more made good their position in the realm of sport, one of the early books to take a decided line in this matter being, I believe, a little-known novel entitled A Matched Pair. In this book which was published anonymously, a young man and woman who have kindred tastes, are brought together through their common love of hunting, and an amusing instance of the prevailing spirit, is given at their wedding breakfast. When the hour is drawing near for the departure of the bride and bridegroom, news is brought to the latter that the M.F.H. of the country has met with an accident, which will keep him from the saddle for the remainder of the season. The lady of course is told the news, and she receives the suggestion that their honeymoon should be given up, in order that her husband may stay and hunt the hounds, with the most obliging readiness. This incident I give from memory, as it is now many years since I have seen the book. The strangest thing about the incident, perhaps is, that such a truly sporting couple should not have delayed their marriage till the end of the hunting season.

It is during the last ten years that women have come to be reckoned as a power in the land, in the matter of sport, and it is now a matter of course for the novelists of the day to make their leading women-characters of almost all classes, join in some one or more form of out-door recreation. Vivid pictures of the hunting-field, the banks of the salmon river, the croquet lawn and the golf links, show the love of the nineteenth century maid and matron for the healthy out-door exercise, which has given to the younger generation a physique that would have been regarded with wondering awe, not unmixed with disapproval, by their gentle and delicate great-grandmothers.

In a bird's-eye view, too, of the course of our history, we may note that at the time of the absence of the great body of the nobles in the Holy Land in the days of the Crusades, the women, so many of whom had been left in charge of the castles and lands of their lords, came very prominently forward in the domain of sport, as well as in the social life of the period. On the return of the warriors, this liberty seems in some degree to have been curtailed, and whether this is to be attributed to any undue exercise of freedom during their time of independence, or to the fact of the minds of their lords and masters having been effected by the Oriental ideas as to the conduct of women, does not seem very clear.

The restraint however was but temporary, and when the highest place in the land was filled by a woman, and "Queen Bess" ruled her subjects with a judicious determination none could gainsay, her humbler sisters shared in the reflected glory of her fame. Elizabeth herself, as we all know, was an ardent sportswoman, and took the keenest delight in a run with hounds, or a trial of skill with the cross-bow, long after she had passed the age, at which even modern Dianas are wont to retire from an active share in the fatigues of the hunting-field.

The reign of Queen Anne on the other hand, although the Sovereign herself and the members of her court were lovers of the chase, seems to have had a distinctly depressing effect on the independent position of women. It was not till the present century, when our beloved Queen by her conduct on the throne, and in her private life, gave such a stimulus to the position of her sex, that women came forward to take their share in the sports, as well as in the more serious duties of our national life, in a way that was new in the world's history.

That the young Queen whose every act was eagerly copied by her girl subjects, could have ridden after hounds as she did in the early years of her reign, without having many followers, is not to be supposed. Thus indirectly—for Victoria's early succession to the duties of a sovereign left her but little time for the enjoyment of the lighter side of life—Her Majesty's example has probably had not a little to do with the increased love of sport among the women of the present day.

In the history of sport, therefore, as in other departments of our life as a nation, the name of Victoria will be remembered as the great benefactor of women, by having given them larger, truer conceptions of life, and by opening to them spheres of usefulness and pleasure which the deadening influence of the eighteenth century, seemed to have closed to them for ever.

The Editor.

Speight. Rugby.
MRS. BURN.

[FOX HUNTING.]

"My dear young lady, you would enjoy your hunting so much more if you would only watch the hounds!" I once heard a Master of Hounds say to an eager young woman whose only aim and object seemed to be to get on. Such indeed was her anxiety to do this that she was quite oblivious of the fact, she was meanwhile riding the hounds off the line. The M.F.H. quoted being one of the finest huntsmen in England, I have remembered his words. For it is simply wonderful to think of the hundreds upon hundreds of people in Great Britain, who hunt regularly week after week in the season, and who never "watch the hounds!" Talk and chatter when they draw, gallop of course and jump—most probably—when they run, but "know what they are doing?" No.

And yet to anyone who is really fond of hunting, the greatest charm of all is in watching the hounds and in taking an intelligent interest in the hunt itself. Not that this interest is given to all, for crowds come out, some because they can afford it and it is the right thing to do, some to see their friends, and others to ride, and lastly some, not many, to hunt.

These last have generally been "bred to it," as a man would say, and have the love of hunting born in them, and so they are able to enjoy themselves when others do not. For even though the scent be bad, and they "cannot run a yard," these few will take a pleasure in watching hounds really hunt, and will hug themselves with delight as they distinguish old Rhapsody feather up a furrow away from the rest till she can assure herself that it is right, and then with a note like a bell bring all the others flying to her cry, till one after another they pick up the line and proclaim that it is good.

Part of the charm of hunting is the beauty of its surroundings. I know nothing prettier than the different scenes of a hunt. To watch the hounds put into covert, to stand at a corner and see down the ride the huntsman's red coat and all the hounds round him, among the brown leaves on the ground and the dark trees in the background is simply a picture, and time after time in each hunting day such pictures appear, and delight the eye. Then the joy of listening to the cry, and not only the cry, for it does one good to hear the huntsman cheering the hounds in covert, especially if he has a good voice and can blow a good note on his horn.

Even the smell of the dank leaves turned over as the hounds rustle through them is delightful, and like all loved scents it brings back more than anything else the days of long ago.

I never go out cub-hunting now without that scent bringing back to me the old days at Brigstock, when my father[1] hunted the Pytchley hounds. In Spring and early Autumn we always went to the Woodlands, for the Woodland Pytchley had not then become a separate pack, and I once more seem to see him, long of leg and lithe of limb on the raking chestnut mare, and hear his cheery voice drawing those great woods. And as I listen to his view halloa I feel a thrill run through me, and in fancy I see them striding down the broad grass ride, while the hounds fly to him from every side, and with an "over, over, over, over," which simply make one shiver, he cheers them over the ride, while they swing to the right and crash into the covert with a glorious burst of music like a chime of silver bells. It is odd how these things remain in one's heart.

[1] Colonel J. Anstruther-Thomson.

"Wire and silence" will be the end of hunting, so he says; he being my father whom on all things venatic I firmly believe.

I suppose hardly one "hunting" woman out of every hundred who go out, ever know how many couple of hounds there are out, or think of counting them while the Master sits outside the covert blowing them to him. Yet this is interesting in itself, and if you know the hounds personally all the more so, as you watch them come tumbling through the fence by ones and twos and go smiling up to their huntsman's side, with a satisfied expression as if they were saying "here I am anyhow."

ELIZABETH, COUNTESS OF WILTON, ON WILLOUGHBY.

Hunting in the provinces has that great advantage over the shires, that you have fewer people out, and consequently you really can take an interest in the hound work and watch what they are doing, and when they run you can keep your eye on them all through, and ride to them, whereas in a fashionable country you get cramped up at a corner of a covert with three or four hundred people hemming you in, behind a narrow gateway may be, hardly wide enough for one horse to get through at a time. Your horse probably gets frightened in the thick of the fray, and tries to go backwards instead of forwards, the man's horse in front of you has his ears back and a ribbon in his tail, while those behind keep cramming on with cries of "Get on, do, or else let me come," so by the time you have sniggled yourself through this turmoil, hounds have slipped away and are out of sight. You may then ride for all you are worth, but you probably will never see the hounds again until they kill, or at any rate check. So you must e'en be content with galloping in the wake of somebody else's back, and trust to luck that he is going the right way, but it is dull work compared to picking your own places and using your own head to get to hounds the shortest way.

Of course the country in the shires makes up for almost anything, and to stride away over the pasture lands of Leicestershire or Pytchleydom, is truly the realisation of the "Happy Hunting Grounds." After you have once learned to find your way over a cramped country, intersected with lime and mortar walls and barbed wire, in Scotland, or after you have scaled the heights and fathomed the depths of the banks and drains in Ireland, then to go down for a hunt in the shires is a holiday worthy of the name. "Call this a ditch?" you exclaim inwardly as you flick over an English fence, after encountering those gruesome dykes in Meath. True, I only hunted in Meath one season, but my private verdict at the end of the time was, "a splendid education, but an awful experience as far as the fences are concerned." But then I do not like a ditch I cannot see the bottom of, especially when it has sheer cut-out sides which every person in front of you makes bigger and bigger. I also have a vivid recollection of seeing several top hats (nothing else) wandering up and down on the level of the ground, as other brave souls went at those ditches and cleared them and their contents, human, equine and all. This was on a pleasant spot in Meath, known as the "Bush Farm," and I don't mind saying that for appalling fences I have never met its equal, and devoutly trust I may never come in contact with its superior, unless I am mounted either on a bird or a balloon. But for sport it was undefeated, and the beautiful old turf was a pleasure to ride on. A great blessing too it is having no ridge and furrow, for really sometimes in England, the Bay of Biscay "is jokes" compared to the ground you ride over. The continued galloping up and down is so hard on horses, and though of course one knows the dodge of taking them slantways, still it is not half such fun as swinging away over smooth grass.

One thing about Ireland—and when I say Ireland, I am thinking only of the county Meath, for I have never hunted with any other pack over there, barring one day in Kildare—is that a pony can get over it. It will creep about and jump like a cat, and cross the country as it never could in England. Then, too, people do not seem to hurt themselves so often when they fall over there, and that no doubt is because they ride slowly at their fences, but then how one misses the gates. It is almost impossible to believe at first that there really are not any, but the cruel fact is proved time after time, till at last you are forced to own that it is only too true.

Scotland, some years ago, before so much wire crept in, was as good a school as need be to teach anyone how to get to hounds. You sometimes had to crawl and creep, and sometimes to jump a bit of timber standing, perhaps uphill in a corner, or an awkward place under a tree, with generally a wire somewhere through it or standing handy by, and it is a great thing to learn where there are difficulties, for it teaches you to use your head, which is as important out hunting as it is in daily life. Yet how few people seem to hunt with their heads. As long as they can gallop and jump in sight of someone else's coat tails, there are many who seem to be quite content, and will assure you they enjoy their hunting immensely.

But this is not the real way.

To use your own judgment, to have a quick eye to hounds, and as they turn and swing to cut off the corners, to save your horse by choosing the weak places in the fences and the best going in the fields, this is the science of riding to hounds. Yet very few know how to do it, and fewer still have the gift of being able to make a horse gallop. In a crowded country where everything depends on your getting a start much also depends on this.

To be strong on a horse is given to few, to ride light to very few, and yet to be a really good horsewoman one ought to be both. It is pretty to see a really good man or woman riding to hounds. How they keep flitting along to one side of the pack, never seeming in a hurry, but always moving on, down the furrows and over the gaps, and those who try to catch them will find they are always in front and generally clean.

One great thing to learn, and especially I think for a woman, is to go quietly and not to splash. One hates to see the women of a hunt always on the gallop, going from covert to covert across the fields. It looks so much better, and is so much wiser to trot quietly over them than to go helter skelter past everybody else, probably squelching muddy water over them as you go, and incurring the condemnation of the opposite sex, who, if they are sportsmen of the right sort, will seldom be seen bustling between times.

Not only to ride your horse quietly, but to be quiet yourself is also an advantage. I shall never forget once in Leicestershire, after an almost blank day, the whole field was drawn up to one side of a small spinney by the road, and all our hopes of retrieving the day lay in our getting a fox away from the far corner of the wood. All who understood the importance of keeping quiet were dumb, and we could not help feeling a little bit bored by one good lady, who in strident tones gave an exhaustive history of her aluminium watch. Her listener would evidently have gladly cut her short had his manners been less good, and the rest of us wished heartily that both she and her watch were at the bottom of the sea. Poor lady, she hunted with the greatest regularity several days a week, but she had never learned the why of things out hunting.

Then there are what may be called the "let me come" women—those who have to gallop at their fences because they dare not go at them slower, and if anybody happens to be before them think it necessary to shout. I know, of course, that opinions differ as to riding fast or slow at a fence, though personally I hold to the latter, and cannot help thinking that people who always ride at them fast are afraid to do so any slower. Certain it is that a horse will jump a place more surely and more cleverly if you give him time to see what he is going at, and most of them can jump very much bigger places even standing than people generally give them credit for. If you take a pull to steady your horse when you are a little distance from your fence, you will probably arrive at the other side far more collectedly, and be striding away again over the next field, before others who allow their horses to gallop on right up to the fence are near you. They are going too fast to notice the grip before they arrive at it, and consequently their horse takes off from the wrong leg and lands like a star-fish in the next field, then stumbles, pecks, and recovers again before he is once more set in motion. All this takes time and tires the horse, moreover should the luckless animal thus ridden fail to recover from the stumble and peck, he will give his rider a far worse fall than if he had gone at it slower.

"Hands" of course have everything to do with the niceties of riding, and "hands" cannot be taught. But, after all, thinking has a great deal to do with good riding, and if people would but remember that horses are not machines, that they do feel and their poor mouths are sensitive, it would go far towards improving their horsemanship and hands. I am sure that half the falls we get are due to our own faulty riding, though we all know how we say if our horse falls with us he is a stupid brute for doing it, yet if the same mishap should occur while a groom is on his back, it is then he who gets that title for letting him down. We read sometimes about people "lifting" their horses, but I do not know what that means. One must trust them to a great extent, and any interference at the critical moment is most likely to land them head over heels.

I remember hearing a well-known coper say to a friend of mine who could ride a runaway horse without being even pulled, "Ah, but then you've got the fingers." I once tried to explain to my sister that she must "carry her own hands," and she laughed at me for telling her to try and make them be like souflés. "Anything will pull if you pull at it," I have often been told, but it is not easy to be like a souflé when you are going forty thousand miles a minute, skew-ways on at a double wire fence with a river in between.

How women long ago could possibly ride across country without a third pommel is a mystery to me. Yet we are told they went well. I cannot credit their having been able to ride anything but patent safety horses, for one needs all the strength the third pommel gives to steer an awkward horse along, though of course one's knee should hang below it in the ordinary way of riding. I believe the great tip in women's riding is to ride off the right leg. So much strength is to be got out of pressing the leg against the saddle flap, and it is noticeable what a much prettier seat those have who rise in trotting off the right thigh than others who laboriously rise out of the stirrup.

LANCER, IRISH HORSE.
(Property of Mrs. Burn.)

Another thing that often strikes me is how few women carry their stirrup foot in the right place. The proper position for the left foot is to hang in a straight line from the knee, with the foot easy in the stirrup, not pressed against it, but home in it I think, though I see many who only touch it with their toes. It is pitiful to ride behind a woman and see the sole of her foot sticking up at the back, yet some find they get their grip in this way, so they tell me, the grip which should come from the pressure I mentioned before, of the right leg against the saddle flap.

A well-known woman to hounds was once pointed out to me as a wonder on a horse. So she was, very good; but if she had ridden with a spur she would have been killed long before, for she rode with her toe out and her heel pressed against her horse's ribs. Why many women have not broken their necks before now I do not know. Those who ride with a loose rein, for instance. I once saw a gallant girl galloping hard across a heavy plough, with her reins hung over one finger. It may have been smart, it certainly was brave, but the sad thing was it showed her ignorance so patently that one pitied her from the heart, and her horse still more, for had he not been one of the cleverest in England he must have tumbled her head over heels.

Women out hunting should take their chance with the rest, and never trade on the chivalry of the opposite sex, for this is what makes them unpopular in the hunting field.

If they are not brave enough to take their own place at a fence, they must be content to wait their turn at the gap or gate. If they are wise they will keep on the very outside of the crowd in a gateway, as they will pass through quicker like that than if they go straight into the mass of struggling humanity, which will probably jam them out the more they try to get in front.

If you hunt, be ready to help other people, "and do unto all men as you would they should do unto you."

Don't let a loose horse gallop past you, because you happen to be a woman, but catch him. Always do what is wanted promptly. If the Master says "hold hard," or only holds up his hand, "stop." It would be very bad form for a woman to lead the way on such an occasion by going on, as the Master cannot so well tell her what is in his heart, as he probably would if the delinquent were a man. If you should make a mistake and earn a reproof, hold your tongue, and remember an M.F.H.'s life is not a happy one, and there is more to worry and aggravate him every hour of every hunting day, than his field ever dreams of. So instead of feeling angry at his speaking to you, be sorry that you have deserved it. Remember too that most people out hunting are exactly like a flock of sheep, so if you show the way over a seedfield for instance, or by unnecessarily jumping fences when hounds are not running, your example is very likely to be followed, and the result will be damage done and consequent trouble.

Women are more generally accused of riding jealous than men, but real good sportsmen of either sex will never think of such a thing. Of course being "alone with the hounds" is a pleasure that cannot be denied, and there is an uncontrollable feeling of joy when one happens to be among the favoured few who get well away. But that is more because it gives you a better chance of being with hounds, and more room to ride, than when you are surrounded by hundreds of people hustling and bustling all over the place. Live and let live, is just as sound a maxim out hunting as elsewhere.

Always make way for the huntsman at a gate, over a gap, or wherever it may be. Let him pass, for it is his proper place to be with his hounds. Always too, wait for dismounted men. If anyone has to get off to open a gate or break down an impracticable place, cut a wire, or for whatever cause it may be, pull up and wait till he is on again. For remember no horse will stand still to be mounted while others are galloping past him, though strange to say few people seem to think of that. It is rather hard on a man after letting you through a gap or gate to see you gallop away, leaving him to struggle with his impatient horse which assuredly will give him little chance of getting on again in a hurry. Possibly you might be able to help him by holding his horse's head till he is up. There are so many little things like this that can be done quietly, by a woman being quick to see what is wanted, and just being helpful without being officious.

If you arrive first at a gate, open it, and swing it back for the others, that is to say, if you are sure you won't make a mess of it, and only keep the whole crowd waiting while you fumble helplessly between your whip and the latch. If you think you cannot open it, do not try, but pull back and let somebody else do it for you, and so save time. No one will thank you for it if you get in the way, and then only fumble.

It always distresses me to hear men saying, as alas, they often do, and very often I fear with every excuse, "a woman of course," or, "a lady as usual," when a hound has been kicked or a man jumped on. It is so unnecessary, for why should not a woman use her brains as much as anyone else out hunting.

I remember once hearing of a lady, who had not much experience, and was mounted on a kicking horse. She stood among the crowd in a gateway with her horse kicking viciously at everybody near, till at last an exasperated man could bear it no longer, and remonstrated, saying, "Really, Mrs. Smith, do you know your horse is kicking most dangerously?" "Oh, yes," she replied with an innocent smile, "I know, but I assure you I don't mind." Such innocence is sweet, but out hunting it is as well to remember to turn your horse's heels to the hedge, and his head to the hounds when they are coming past you, and if your horse kicks to keep out of the crowd. For the sake of all other women who hunt, do not risk their reputation by doing a stupid thing, or not doing a kindly action whenever you get the chance, and try never to give anyone an excuse for wishing that women should not come out hunting. That warning shout of "seeds," or "young grass," in an agonised tone from the Master himself, is too often unheeded by the hard riding woman who has not taken in the fact, that in her anxiety to "show them all the way," she is careering alone across a newly-sown field, while the rest of the people have gone round on purpose to avoid doing damage to the land. It is extraordinary how few people take such a state of things in, but it is as well to know young grass or sown wheat when you see it, and having seen, to avoid riding over it as much as possible, also to shut the gates behind you if you can, and in all ways to try to keep friendly with the farmers, for on them depends the continuance of hunting.

Now a word on the disagreeable subject of falling and getting into difficulties. In the latter case I hold with the words of Solomon, who said, "Their strength shall be in sitting still," and he generally talked sense, though perhaps he was not thinking of hunting when he made the remark. Anyhow, the best thing under difficulties is to keep your head and sit still. Take your foot out of the stirrup, so that you may get clear away as soon as opportunity offers and good sense dictates. A good thing is to kick your foot free of the stirrip before you get into the mess, if you think it at all likely to occur. It is well to be as free as possible, and not to meddle with your horse's head, for he will probably be as keen to set himself straight again as you are, if he only gets the liberty to do so.

One can but speak from experience, and my own is this, that since I learned to ride slow at my fences, I have not had one-third of the falls I used to get before. By riding slow, I mean taking a pull about three or four lengths from the fence, and getting your horse to go steady and look. When once you are over, you can go striding away again as fast as you like, and so not lose your "pride of place." Indeed you are far more likely to keep it in that way, than if you gallop over your fences, for before long the over will relapse into through, and then it will be only a question of time how soon you will measure your length on the ground.

Of course one is bound to fall sometimes, however good the horse, however good the horsewoman. Blind fences, wire, a wide place on the far side, or the sun low so that it catches your horse's eyes, are all pretty well bound to knock you over, and then the main thing is to fall clear. Nowadays we are mercifully seldom hung up, thanks to our safety skirts and safety stirrups, without both of which no woman should, in my opinion, be allowed to hunt. It is wise to minimise the dangers of hunting as much as possible, and I think that in one's clothes and saddlery for hunting, everything should be as plain and as safe as possible.

COMET.
(Property of Lady Gerard.)

I believe myself in Champion and Wilton's safety stirrup, and dislike hunting on a saddle without it, though some people "crab" them, and say they come off at the wrong moment. If indeed this does happen, the stirrups must require mending, or else the movement of the rider has caused the leather flap which protects the bar to rise, which of course will set the stirrup leather free. But this is obviously not the stirrup's fault. I also like the arrangement on the off flap, so that you can tighten your own girths, for it is nonsense to say that women's girths should "never need tightening." They need it far more than men's as a rule, and if you can pull them up a hole or two after a gallop, yourself, it is a great convenience, and much better than making some unfortunate man, or his groom, fumble about at a buckle covered with mud below the horse's body, as on other saddles.

As for the safety habits, I believe in the apron skirt, for in that you must fall clear. I have tried several so-called safety habits, and have been hung up both on the near and the off side, but since I took to the apron I have had no more danglings. Of course the drawback to the apron is its appearance off the saddle, when it is certainly too scanty to be becoming. I have, however, overcome that difficulty by having an extra "modesty," made of the very thinnest serge, which I always carry under the near flap of my saddle, so that it does not show, and yet when I get off to ease my horse's back, I can put it on and feel quite independent and happy. I therefore commend this plan to others, as being far handier than buttoning the extra covering inside their habit skirt, and much nicer than going without altogether.

Women, as a rule, are not particular enough about the way they put their boots on. Though they would be very much surprised if they saw a man out hunting with the tags of his boots sticking out, they seem to forget that anything wrong in the way they are put together, is sure to be noticed, and that it is only when our clothes are right that they attract no attention. One should always study, therefore, to be neat and clean-looking beyond everything.

I know many men assert that no woman should ever wear a spur. Of course they are chivalrous enough to add, because women should never ride a horse that needs one. Such a state of things would indeed be delightful, but as there are some in the world still, who would rather go out on anything than not go out at all, and that "anything" is as often as not a refusing brute of a hireling, as cunning as a monkey, I cannot agree with the opinion. In saying this, however, please note I do not mean by a spur, that horrible sort of a dagger which works with a spring, and is commonly sold as a "lady's spur," for of all the dangerous and cruel inventions, that is about the worst. I mean the ordinary small man's spur, with the rowels blunted, and of course this should only be worn by those who know how to use it, never by a beginner, or indeed by any but a really fine horsewoman, for if the foot is not carried in the right position you are sure to touch your horse with it unwittingly, and if you make a mistake you will probably have to pay for it. If your horse is very hot and eager, too, you will be better without it.

One of the most useful things for a woman to learn, is to be able to get on her horse off the ground by herself. If you cannot do this, you are so utterly dependent on the kindness of the long-suffering man. It is very easy to learn, if you have any spring in your body. You simply put your left foot in the stirrup, catch hold of the cantle of your saddle with your left hand, and the pommel and reins in your right, and up you go. Be careful, however, not to knock up the flap over the stirrup bar, if it be a safety, in doing this, or out it will come, and down you will flop again. Of course the main thing is, that your horse should stand still and allow you to mount. A horse is generally so tactless about this, he will fidget and dance and never give you a chance, but, by taking the off reins up short in your left hand, you have at least so much control over his curvetting, that by pulling his head away, you make him turn his body and saddle towards you. But mind in doing this he does not trample on your toes, which he is very likely to do.

Of course you should always try to get your horse on lower ground than yourself, and if he is still too high, you must let down the stirrup until you can reach it. Always try and sandwich your horse between yourself and a fence or house, so that he cannot revolve round and round, as they are so fond of doing at the critical moment. Try, also, not to tickle or kick him with your toe, after it is in the stirrup, as that will probably induce him to kick you off before you are safely on.

It is really a marvel how few men can jump a woman on to her horse properly, and how few women go up as they should. The operation is quite easy, if only the man can be persuaded to stand still and merely give his hand a little heave upwards. The majority of men who do not know, no sooner feel the foot on their hand than they count hard and run backwards towards the horse's head, carrying the unfortunate woman's foot with them. Thus, instead of sending her up, dragging her down till the whole thing ends in a wild struggle, she clinging round the pommels with her chest, chin, and arms. Too degrading an exhibition. If the man will stand still and take it quietly, and if the woman will just spring off her right leg and straighten her left knee, she will arrive in her saddle gracefully and lightly, and the man will not have felt her weight at all. It is best to come to a thorough understanding with the man before you begin, as to when he expects you to spring. If this is to be when he counts three, or as soon as your foot is in his hand? Do not in any case allow him to have hold of the hem of your skirt with your foot. Unless this is free it will hold you down, and a sort of Jack-in-the-box-performance will begin. You spring and the man's hand remains inert, then he jerks up your left foot when you are standing stolidly on the right, and generally the end of all is that you arrive in a heap on your saddle, and finish by kicking the man in the face.

How to have a quick eye to hounds? Yes, how? But I do not know. It is a gift which few have, and most people have not. To keep looking out for the hounds in front and all round if you are not seeing them, and to keep your eye on the leading hounds if you are in that lucky position, to notice every turn and be quick to turn with them, to cut off the corners and go the shortest way, a sort of anticipation without anticipating, that is all I can say about it. Never ride exactly behind the hounds, as if they check you are thus sure to hustle them on over the line and incur the wrath of the huntsman besides spoiling your own sport and everybody else's. Ride either to one side or the other of the pack, down wind for choice, about forty yards in their wake, so as to give hounds plenty of room to swing or stop, should they come to a check.

As there is hardly one woman in fifty or a hundred who can go her own line and pick her way all through a run—or perhaps it would be more courteous to say I do not know many who, if put down in a country on an ordinary hunter alone with the hounds, could find their way into and out of ten fields in succession; it is as well for most women to have a pilot. First, though, ascertain that the man is willing to accept this onerous position. Then be careful to give him room, not to ride in his pocket or get in his way, and above all things to give him time at his fences to land or fall without jumping on him.

MISS SERRELL ON COLLEEN.

When you have once chosen your pilot, obey him. If at a gate or in a crowd, or for any other reason, even if you do not understand it, he should want you to go first, Go! Nip through quickly and quietly, and don't keep others waiting whatever you do. Take your turn whenever it comes, and take every chance that offers without hanging back, which hinders other people, and without hustling, which annoys them. In fact, if after you have achieved being quiet out hunting you succeed in being quick, you will have begun to grasp the situation.

It is as well for your own comfort and that of other people to ride sane horses as far as in you lies. I once had a ride on an insane one, and it was far from satisfactory. It was perfectly immaterial to that horse whether he arrived at his fence with his head or his tail foremost. Now it is not a pleasant sensation to waltz round and round, or to find yourself bounding backward towards an impenetrable black bullfinch and at the last moment to whip round and swish through or over as chance befalls. It was rather like having a hunt on a wild cat, for I never knew where or how he intended either to take off or land, but he would not fall, though the bridle behind his ears was a mass of mud and grass, after one double distilled peck into a boggy field.

Of course a woman has not half the strength on a phlegmatic horse that a man has to "gar them gang," as we say in the North. A man can squeeze a half-hearted one over a fence, where a woman would be simply powerless to do anything, and I think the worst sort of a horse a woman can ride is a refuser. It is bad for her in every way, for body, temper, and nerve. One can forgive a horse everything if he will but try, but a sulky or funking brute, who grows more and more slack as he nears each fence until he collapses at the brink, is too high a trial, especially when the fight which must come generally ends in rearing, which is of all things most dangerous for a woman.

I once had a racehorse given me, which had been spoiled in training, with the temper simply of a fiend. In racing, he never would try, but always shut up just when he ought to have won with ease, for to give the devil his due—and he was one—he could gallop. That horse out hunting was simply purgatory; he could jump like a stag, which was the most irritating part of the whole thing, and sometimes he would gallop and jump with the best for a few fields, then all of a sudden collapse, stop, dig in his toes, and that was the end of my hunt, for no power on earth after that would induce him to go forwards. Backwards he would go all round the field, with intervals of rearing. I saw him fall backwards twice in one day, when one of the whippers-in was riding him, because he refused to go through an open gate.

Riding a refuser does I think teach one to be strong on a horse; but is it worth it? You can always acquire strength to a certain degree by riding different horses, which is a far more agreeable form of education, and much more interesting than always sticking to two or three of your own. For a beginner, of course, it is necessary she should above all things have confidence in her horse that he will carry her safely, so that when she finds one she had better stick to him. A made hunter in the prime of life with nice manners, easy paces, and good temper is the horse for her, for he will carry her safely without fatigue, and for that there is nothing like the action of a thoroughbred, whose low, slinking stride hardly makes one rise. A woman should not ride too big a horse for her size, as a great stride is very tiring, especially when hacking on the roads. One of the greatest luxuries is a smooth hack, and if you wish to keep warm on your way to the meet, then, instead of driving, to canter along the grassy sides of our English roads on a thoroughbred polo pony, is one of the most delightful sensations in life.

The ideal hunter would be neither too young nor too old. For the young one will be too brave, if he is bold by nature and ridden by a keen beginner, he will with his rider probably come to grief through want of discrimination. The old hunter will fall short, in the sense of being too cunning to jump one inch bigger than he need; moreover when he falls he will not pick himself up as quickly as he might. Therefore if, when riding him he falls, you do not happen to be "top side" your peril will be prolonged, though mercifully horses are mostly kind and really try not to tread on one or hurt one if they can avoid it.

It is more than foolish ever to jump a tired horse, it is unfair, for it he is fond of hunting, horses mostly are, he will jump as long as he can, so if, after a long run he refuses a place, take the hint and go home.

No one knows better than I the lonely feeling of being obliged to pull up in the middle of a good run because one's horse is beat, "while the merry chase goes heedless sweeping by." But if you have only one horse out, it is hopeless to compete with more fashionable souls who are on their fresh second horses, so it is really wiser to make the best of a bad job, and though you feel it hard, go home. Your horse will come out again the oftener, too, and you can enjoy a hunt but little, if you know you are asking more of your horse than you ought. A tired horse, too, makes a tired rider, and that makes a sore back, and then—where are you? Talking of going home and tired horses, reminds me that if you are at all far from home it is best to put your horse in a public, or some friendly stable on the way, and give him a drink of gruel, for this will freshen him up and make your ride home all the pleasanter. Perhaps it would be as well to mention how the gruel should be made, in case you should ever have to do it yourself. Thus, place two double-handfulls of oatmeal in a bucket, pour boiling water over it and stir until it becomes a thick cream; then pour cold water till cool enough for the horse to drink, which will be when it is about blood heat. Should your horse be very done, add a pint of ale or a little gin, to revive him.

The ride home is now shorn of some of its terrors, by the saddles which let you sit downhill. What a boon these are, for one used to suffer anguish, jogging for miles on the old-fashioned saddle whose pommels rose higher than the seat, so that your knee was almost under your chin, and the consequence was a pain between the shoulder blades, which made you long for rest. Oh! those long jogs home. Miles and miles at hounds' pace, on a rough or tired horse. How I used to pull up and walk, and then gallop to catch up my father, he jogging even on, even on, all the time. I can hear him now answering my complaints with, "nonsense, child; it rests one all the way."

GONE TO GROUND.
(PORTRAITS OF FOUR B.V.H. PRIZE WINNERS.)
(From a picture by Basil Nightingale, in the possession of Lady Theodora Guest.)

Perhaps I am a Sybarite, but I do like to drive both to and from hunting, and to have a second horse out completes my joy. An open cart with a polo pony to drive, is to me better than all the broughams in Christantee. To drive on in the morning through the soft damp air that smells like hunting, with hopes running high for the sport to come, seeing the tiniest second horseman jogging on with the biggest of horses, everything makes one feel the joy of life. And when the day is over, to slide off your horse and send him home, and turn in yourself to a bright fire, and tea and poached eggs, at some little Inn by the way, is most comforting. Then you wrap yourself up in your fur coat and woolly gloves, and tuck yourself in to the rugs, and bowl away home in the twilight, with the stars twinkling above you, and the blackbird chuckling his good-night, while the pony trots his best in the anticipation of oats to come. A pleasant sense of healthy tiredness is upon you, which serves to make you appreciate the comforts of your drive, as you sit there cosy and warm, dreaming of the happy day that is done.

R. M. Burn.

Elliott and Fry. 55, Baker Street.
LADY GIFFORD AND HER HARRIERS.

[HARE HUNTING.]

This sport has a peculiar interest for women inasmuch as they are able to take a leading part in it. With foxhounds, the duties of the huntsman are too arduous, even though a woman M.F.H. has not been unknown in the past. But to the Lady Salisbury of venatic fame who hunted the fox manfully over Hertfordshire, we may refer as the exception that proves the rule, for few women would feel they had the physical strength for the task.

With harriers, however, the case is different, for in the first place the little hounds are very handy, and the hunting of the hare is a sport which should above all things be conducted quietly. The less holloaing and noise there is with them the better, for the hounds should be trusted to work out the puzzles set them by the hare, with as little interference as possible. Of course hare hunting may be turned into a poor imitation of fox-hunting, by racing a hare to death with 22-inch foxhound bitches, but this is not true sport in any sense, for it gives the quarry little chance of saving its life, and should be discountenanced by all lovers of the chase. Apropos of this subject, there was in a certain harrier country a great, flat-sided, long-legged hound which attracted the notice of a sport-loving stranger, as being evidently too fast for the pack. In all innocence this visitor remarked to the Master, "I suppose you will draft that hound?" To his astonishment the Master, with an expression of horror and indignation, exclaimed, "Draft him, why he is the best hound I have. He kills more hares than all the rest put together." The visitor said nothing, but he knew the kind of sport that lay before him.

To leave the travesty of honest hare hunting, let us turn to the more pleasing subject of how the chase should be carried on, and here at the threshold we may pause to recall the names of those women, who of late years have carried the horn and hunted their own hounds. Mrs. Cheape, the Squire of Bentley, has shown good sport for many a year, first with the Wellfield Beagles, and since 1892 with the Bentley Harriers with which her name is so intimately connected. Mrs. Pryse-Rice became M.H. only two years later, having started her pack in 1894, and last season a third name appeared in our hunting lists, when Lady Gifford took the field and carried the horn with her harriers. Great success has attended both the kennel and field management of these enterprising sportswomen, and when we come to consider the history of their efforts, we shall see that they have proved the fitness of women for the duties in which they themselves have excelled. Lady Ileene Campbell too, before her marriage, proved herself fully equal to the hunting of her brother Lord Huntingdon's celebrated pack in Ireland, the Duchess of Newcastle at the present time enjoys the pleasure of hunting her little pack in the neighbourhood of Clumber, while Mrs. Briscoe in Ireland whips in to her husband's hounds, and Miss Lloyd of Bronwydd does the same to her father Sir Marteine Lloyd's famous pack of beagles in South Wales.

As we have already said, there should be no fuss and bustle in the field with harriers. When hunting them you should never interfere with them unless they are entirely at fault, and then you should have some definite idea of where the hare is gone, and should know, or think you know, something the hounds do not. There is no cracking of whips wanted in this sport. A touch on the horn, or, better still, a low whistle—if you possess this accomplishment which to many good sportswomen is denied—should bring your pack round you, and you should then slowly trot off in the direction in which you think you will pick up the line. If you view the hare, as you often will, squatted close to your horse's feet, do your utmost to prevent the hounds getting a view, for it is the destruction of good sport with harriers for them to view the hare till within a few moments of the end. The hunting should be done fairly and honestly, inch by inch, till the quarry has been run down. Any hound, therefore, that is given to staring about for a view, I would draft, or make a present of to one of those packs which holloa, mob, and course hares to death.

MRS. PRYSE-RICE'S KENNELS.
(WOODMORTON CHARITY AND WILFUL.)

Foot people who as a rule come out largely with harriers will of course holloa, and in some cases when they receive no encouragement to do so, but their too noisy zeal should be steadily discouraged, and while you show every willingness to let this part of the field see sport, you should let it be known that you wish for, and expect silence from them. If your wishes are not respected, I should then advise you either to take hounds home, or trot right away for two or three miles before you look for another hare. No woman should attempt to hunt hounds who has not the resolution to keep her field—both mounted and unmounted—in proper order. You may indeed—for it is very hard for some men to believe that a woman can understand hound-work—be troubled by suggestions from your field, which they would never dream of offering if a man were carrying the horn, but most women will know how to meet such cases with the courteous indifference which will protect them from further interference. An instance of this has lately come to my knowledge. A lady M.H.'s pack was drawing for a hare on some moorland, and it was evident to her that hounds were on a very stale line, but were slowly working it out foot by foot. This was not very amusing to her field, and at last the farmer who owned the land went up to her and said that hares never worked the way hounds were going, and asked if she would not cast them up the moor. The M.H., however, answered quietly that while she felt sure the farmer knew the run of his hares, she thought the hounds were close on their's, and that in another moment or two it would get up in front of them. The words were scarcely spoken when up got the hare, and the worthy mentor had to sit down and ride for all he was worth, for she ran as only a moorland hare can, and hounds had a fast forty-five minutes before they ran into her in the open.

Quietness and trust in her hounds are the two qualities without which no woman can hunt a pack successfully. This brings me to the subject of the hounds themselves, and though it may seem rather like putting the cart before the horse, to speak of hunting them first, yet it is certain that no one will find the hounds of much use until she knows how to handle them. The first point of course to decide is the kind of hounds you mean to have, whether dwarf foxhounds, stud-book harriers, or the old pure harrier.

H. E. Coles. Redditch.
BUXOM, BENTLEY HARRIER.
(Winner of Champion Cup, Peterborough. 1897.)

The pure harrier has undoubtedly the advantage in tongue, but though good music is a charm it is not so necessary with harriers as with foxhounds, as the former are generally in sight. As against this they have, unless very carefully bred, a lightness of bone and a tendency to splay feet and flat sides. Here again, however, we shall see presently what the experience of those who have taken the matter in hand has been.

Dwarf foxhounds are only to be recommended in countries where hares are bold and strong and go away like foxes, for most countries they have too much drive, and will be continually flashing over the line, and if you compare the hunting of one of these packs in an ordinary country with that of good stud-book harriers, the balance of sport in the long run is sure to be with the latter. What the foxhounds gain in speed they lose in the tendency to over-run the line. And now we must face the question of what a stud-book harrier is. A pure harrier, with an infusion of foxhound blood some generations back, so that now the hare-hunting instinct of the former, and the good feet and shoulders of the latter are combined in the shapely, compact, little harrier to be seen taking the prizes at Peterborough, is, I suppose, about as good a description as we can have. The nose and the patience characteristic of the good old-fashioned hare hunting hound are necessary to good sport, and that power of hunting a cold scent down a road, which they transmit to their descendants, is a most useful one. But the make and shape which will enable them to stay through a long day's hunting, and a certain amount of drive which adds greatly to the sport, come from an infusion of foxhound blood. Then, after at least three generations devoted exclusively to the chase of the hare, we may hope to get the happy mean between the drive forward on the one hand, and the pottering and towling on the other, in which lies the pleasure and success of hare-hunting.

When you have got over the preliminary difficulties of starting a pack you should draft down your hounds till you have as level a lot as possible, 18-19 inches being about the general standard. Larger hounds than these will smother the hare, and smaller ones cannot get over the fences of any ordinary country. The ultimate aim of everyone is, of course, to have a level pack, as otherwise, no matter how good the hounds may be, they can never have the smart appearance in the field so dear to the sportswoman's heart. I would always prefer to have even two or three couples short, than to spoil the look of the pack by having out hounds either too large or too small. It is not in any case desirable to have out a large pack to kill hares, from eight to fourteen couple being quite enough for any country. Some twenty couple of good stud-book harriers then in kennel, will be enough for you to have a smart workmanlike lot of the requisite number in the field, two days a week.

There are no hounds so full of faults, both of make and disposition, as harriers, and it is never an easy matter to buy a pack ready made. The best way, therefore, to begin is with unentered drafts from known kennels, such as the Boddington, the Aldenham, and the Bath and County, and then to breed and buy as opportunity offers.

I would remorselessly draft hounds that do not throw their tongues, and this in spite of the fact that mute hounds are often good in other ways, and the rest of the pack will fly to a trustworthy one directly it begins to feather on the line. This recalls the amusing hypothesis recently made by a brilliant writer on sport, that hounds have a system of signalling with their sterns, analogous to the "flag wagging" of our army. Did the original idea of signalling, this writer asks, come to some gallant officer while he was watching hounds feather on a scent? If not, many will agree that the system might have originated in this way.

But to return. Worse hound faults, even than muteness, are jealousy, skirting and babbling, any one of which should be at once met by drafting. The last—babbling—is incurable, but the other failings often appear in good hounds after they have lost their pace. As these habits are very catching, the only remedy is to draft the hounds directly they show symptoms of them, and you will find that you need to be constantly drafting from the head and tail of your pack, and you will be wise to keep few hounds over four seasons.

The first thing in the training of hounds is to get them perfectly handy and under control, and to do this will mean time and trouble. You must win their affection, and consequently must spend much time with them, both in the kennel and on the road. In this way you will soon get to know the character of each hound, and you will take out the docile ones first in couples, and then when you can trust these, the wilder and more headstrong hounds. You should take notice of the hounds continually on the road, speaking to them of course by name, and your whipper-in should be ready with his thong whenever it is wanted. Not that the whip should be much used, this will not be necessary if you study your hounds' dispositions, and treat each one according to the peculiarities you have noted. But all the same, chastisement should be prompt for any attempt at rebellion after due warning given, and then you must harden your heart to the piteous cries that will follow. Always keep a watchful eye on the hounds when you have them out, and never let them break away if you can possibly help it. If, however, such a thing does happen, it will add greatly to your comfort it the ringleaders be transferred at once to another kennel. At the same time when on the road, or out for exercise, you should give hounds plenty of room, for it is bad for them and certainly does not look well, to have them packed close round your horse's heels.

Never under any circumstances take a pack into the field before you are sure that their discipline is perfect. Till the hounds know you thoroughly you should drill them whenever you go into the kennel. Let them greet you while you make much of them, for it is thus that you will win their hearts, but, this over, it is a good thing to make them "lie up," and not to let them venture to leave the bench till they are called by name. Then you will call first one and then the other, making much of the obedience and readiness shown, and rewarding the hounds with biscuit. If you mean to hunt the hounds yourself, you must go to the kennels daily, and in any case it is always well to see that the servants are sufficiently careful in preserving perfect cleanliness and sweetness, both with the hounds themselves and in the kennels. It cannot be too much insisted on that cleanliness rigorous, absolute and complete, must always prevail. This is quite practicable, and no excuse should be accepted as to its failure in any one particular. A good disinfectant such as Jeyes' Fluid, and constant vigilance on the part of the kennel-man, are all that are required.

WOODBINE, WELLFIELD, BUXOM,
BENTLEY HARRIERS.
(W. West, K.H., with Three Champion Winners.)

If you have a good kennel-man, it is not necessary for you to feed hounds yourself, but you should frequently inspect the food, as even the best servants are apt to be careless in this matter. If, however, you study economy and only have a lad in the kennels, then you or some member of your family should always see to the feeding of the hounds. The food may consist of horseflesh and old oatmeal, with a few biscuits and some bone-dust, and this diet I should say would be found the best and cheapest in the end. This, however, is a matter in which each hound owner will use her own judgment. There are of course various ways of cheapening the diet, but I cannot honestly recommend any of them. On the care in the kennel depends the sport in the field, and without health and condition in the hounds you can hope for no good days. Far better to have a less well-bred pack, or an inferior country, than hounds which are out of sorts and condition. This reminds me that whenever you go into the kennel you should have a watchful eye for the slightest symptoms of a dull or heavy look in any hound, and order such to be separated at once. A healthy hound should be clear of eye and bright of coat, as well as bright and cheery in manner. If you are in doubt about the health of one of your pack, remember that the pink of the mouth is a great sign of health, while paleness and yellowness about the gums is the reverse.

Quite the worst part about keeping harriers, in my opinion, is the constant drafting of the hounds. Perhaps in the case of some old favourite which you know has taken to skirting and hanging on the line, you overlook the faults and refuse to part with him. But what is the result? You find the younger hounds are becoming demoralised, and reluctantly are forced to recognise the truth of the verdict, that harriers should be drafted in their fifth season. It is only the few of exceptional constitution and strength to whom this does not apply, and so you have constantly to be hardening your heart to send some old favourite away.

There are only two points on which I need touch further, and these are your assistants in the field, and the treatment of the quarry. For the first you should have two whippers-in, one an amateur and one a professional, and though as long as things go right they will not be needed, they should always be ready in case of riot, or when hounds are nearing forbidden territory. For though harriers will do no harm in a country if they are properly managed, it is well to remember that M.F.H.'s are tenacious, and covert owners are ready to take alarm.

A question that has to be faced is, what to do with the hare when your little hounds have caught her, and my advice is to let hounds break her up themselves without any fuss, as the Badminton hounds do their foxes.

And now to turn to the interesting topic of the experience in kennel and field of our present lady M.H.'s, and all will doubtless like to know something of the methods in which each of these pioneer sportswomen has built up her pack.

In South Wales, where Mrs. Pryse-Rice has her kennels, the conditions of sport are very different to what they are in the southern counties of England. In the first place, the spare little black-backed mountain hares of Wales, have a turn of speed beyond the powers of their better fed English fellows, and are very hard to kill. Instead, too, of circling round and round when before hounds, they will generally go straight away and will often give a five mile point as bravely as any fox. The reason of this fitness is to be found in the fact that they are constantly being coursed by the farmers' cross-bred greyhounds and collie dogs, which are often scantily fed and badly in want of a dinner, and they have far to go themselves for food, as they have no nice fields of roots at hand like the more luxurious lowland hares.

It is evident then that the hounds to follow these speedy little hares must be quick in getting away and have plenty of drive, and I cannot do better than quote Mrs. Pryse-Rice's own words on the subject, as to how she has succeeded in building up such a pack.

"I started my harriers in 1894, being much helped in the first instance by gifts of hounds from my father-in-law, Mr. Vaughan Pryse, who hunted his harriers for forty seasons, and is one of the oldest Masters in the kingdom. To these I added a few couple of the Woodnorton pack when it was given up by the Comtesse de Paris, and some small foxhounds chosen from my husband's pack, which he had given up the season before.[2] The first year I ran a small pack of twelve couple, and though the hounds were perhaps not a very level lot, they gave us a very good season's sport. Now after four years of breeding, buying and drafting, they run up well together, and are a Stud-book pack of twenty couple of 19-20 inch hounds.

[2] Mr. Pryse-Rice was Master of the Tivyside Foxhounds.—Editor.

Elliott and Fry. 55, Baker Street.
MRS. PRYSE-RICE AND HER HARRIERS.
(MR. PRYSE-RICE AND A. MANDEVILLE, K.H.)

"Although I am of course keen to breed a Peterborough winner, still my great ambition is to own a pack that will hunt and drive. I am not in favour of the slow, sure and persevering type of hound, for though these may hunt and constantly kill their hare, they will by giving her time, allow her to run round and round in the country she knows, instead of driving her out of her beaten track. I like hounds to get away on the back of their quarry and if they drive her into a strange country she will be almost certain to go straight. If hounds do this and possess plenty of drive without flashiness, they will often make a good scent, when otherwise they would find an indifferent one."

As an apt commentary on the remarks of this very successful M.H., we may note that Mrs. Pryse-Rice's hounds had some really extraordinary runs last season.[3] For instance early in December they found a hare in the heather, and after running her down wind for nearly two miles, they turned and went at a pace that tried their followers for a five-mile point dead up wind, killing her in forty-five minutes from the start. In the same month another mountain hare gave them a good five-mile point, and on January 12th the hounds were two hours and forty-five minutes going at a good pace, and travelling over a great extent of country, and they did not reach kennels after this, their best run of the season, till 7.40 p.m.

[3] 1897-98.

It is clear, therefore, that Mrs. Pryse-Rice is to be counted among those who have attained more or less to the ideal they have set before them in breeding, and she has beside scored high honours at Peterborough. The noted Harrier Stud-book bitch, Aldenham Restless, a veteran of pure foxhound blood, by the Whaddon Chase Tarquin—Oakley Sarah, is now in the Llandovery Kennels. This bitch won the Champion Cup at Peterborough in 1893, and three years later took the Silver Cup for the best brood bitch,[4] after which she became the property of Mrs. Pryse-Rice.

[4] I must express my regret that it has not been found possible to reproduce the photograph of this famous hound, though it was most kindly sent me by Mrs. Pryse-Rice.—Editor.

The stock of Restless are well to the fore, for last year—1897—no fewer than nine of her descendants were winners at the Peterborough Show.

Rigby, a fine upstanding hound, of pure harrier blood, by Eamont Barrister—their Russet was second for the Champion Cup in 1897, and as he was unentered and was shown against old dog-hounds, this was a remarkably good performance.

To quote once more from Mrs. Pryse-Rice's own words: "We have never," she says, "had a big count of hares killed. We—my husband acts as my first whip and A. Mandeville is K.H. and second whip—are quite content to come home having accounted for one hunted hare, or when we kill a brace in this way, it is quite a red-letter day for us. I do not see any fun in either chopping them, or in killing three or four hares that only run a few fields, though of course this does make up the count."

Touching on the subject of the introduction of the foxhound cross with harriers, Mrs. Pryse-Rice says that she is "in favour of an infusion of foxhound blood, in moderation, into the harrier kennel."

The country hunted by Mrs. Cheape lies round Redditch, and extends into Warwickshire and Gloucestershire. In 1892, when "The Squire" inherited the Bentley estates from her father, she bought the well-known pack of harriers belonging to Captain Spicer, of Spye Park, and several couple of the Herondon Hall harriers. The Bentley pack of the present day includes many Peterborough winners, and deservedly ranks very high among the harrier packs of the land. The hounds, however, have not been bred for show purposes only, but for nose and tongue, and to show sport. At the Peterborough show of last year (1897) the first prize for dog hounds, under 19 inches, was taken by Mrs. Cheape's Wellfield and Gainer. The former of these is by Lord E. Somerset's Dancer—Woodbine, and through his dam, which was the winner of the champion cup for bitch hounds not exceeding 19 inches, at Peterborough in 1893, strains back to the Aldenham Restless. Gainer, on the other hand, is a home-bred hound. A grand three couple, which took the silver cup in 1897, are Buxom (Wellfield—Bracelet, dam by Boddington Borderer—Breconshire Lightstone) also winner of the champion cup; Gadfly, home-bred; Verity (Aldenham Valiant—Their Restless); Waterwitch, home-bred (Waggoner—Woodbine); Warlike, also a son of Wellfield; and Dahlia, home bred (Druid—Worry); the sire of the last (Ashford Valley Pillager—H. H. Dewdrop) being one of the winners of the first prize for best couple of entered hounds, not exceeding 19 inches, in 1894, at Peterborough.

Truly a triumph of breeding and selection of which any woman may be proud.

BRACELET, WATERWITCH, VERITY, WOODBlNE, GENEROUS, WORRY.
MRS. CHEAPE AND HER PETERBOROUGH WINNERS.
(Best Three Couple under 19 inches, Peterborough, 1896.)

DULCIMA, PURE HARRIER.
(Property of Lady Gifford.)

Lady Gifford began by having a small pack of beagles, but as she found it impossible to keep with these hounds on foot, she gradually changed to harriers. The ideal she then placed before herself was to get a level pack of 17 inch hounds of pure harrier blood. In colour, too, Lady Gifford is particular, her fancy being to get her hounds as dark as possible, with golden-red tan on their heads, but, as she truly says, though a smart appearance is much—and such hounds are very smart—"when you get a good-shaped hound it does not do to quarrel as to colour." In starting her pack Lady Gifford has gone a good deal to Mr. Allgood's kennels, and Dulcima, a very beautiful bitch by his Durable—Darkeye, has perfect colouring and good bone, and, moreover, an excellent nose, and will gallop all day without tiring. Her owner naturally regrets that owing to the fact of Mr. Allgood not being a member of the Association of Masters of Harriers, she is not able to show hounds bred by him, although Lady Gifford herself has joined the association.

The country over which Lady Gifford hunts is the moorland near her home in Northumberland, and she finds the little hounds of 17-18 inches beautiful to ride to over the open grass land, and very quick to get over the stone walls and the heather. That they need to be speedy after a heather-fed hare there is no doubt, for such an one is stronger than most of her kind, and will usually go straight as a good fox, after a ring or two to start with. The open land, too, generally carries a fine scent, and even though you have harriers before you, you will find you need to be riding a horse with a good turn of speed to enable you to live with them.

In kennel management Lady Gifford takes the keenest interest, and her system appears so excellent, that all engaged in hound breeding may find something to learn from it. "I always think," writes Lady Gifford, "that when hounds are in work, they are often given their food too wet. This, I am sure, is a mistake. I give my hounds the best oatmeal that can be got, and too much care cannot be given to the making of the porridge. It must be boiled just right, or it is worse than useless. There is a biscuit known as bread biscuit, which I find extremely good for hounds, though it is a little difficult to get. It is made, I understand, from the dinner rolls and bread left at London parties, and so you may be sure it is made of the best meal. I always find, however, that my meal merchant is anxious for me to have any kind of biscuit except this. The washing and grooming of hounds is, I think, a point in the kennel not sufficiently thought of. All the summer months I have my hounds thoroughly washed with soap and warm water, and of course thoroughly dried, and though no doubt this takes a long time, the result well repays you. If hounds are well groomed every day, they will keep twice as healthy, and their coats will have a shine like satin, exactly like a well-groomed horse. As to exercising, I take them out on the road every morning about six o'clock, for two hours, and in consequence they never really get out of condition, but by the time August comes round they are quite ready for 'cubbing' so to speak."

Another point on which Lady Gifford gives information which others may find valuable, is concerning a cure for that "kennel dread," distemper, which she learnt from the great veterinary surgeon, Professor Pritchard. She advises a preparation of coffee and milk in equal parts, exactly as you would have it made for your own consumption, then to drench the puppy continually with it, allowing him to touch nothing else, and while the treatment lasts to keep the puppy in an even temperature. The results of this treatment, in Lady Gifford's kennel, has been all that could be wished, and though previously she had had heavy losses from this cause, she has never since lost one that she has tried it on. Is it possible that as this simple remedy becomes better known, we may find that cruel scourge, distemper, disarmed of its terrors?

MRS. PRYSE-RICE'S KENNELS.
ALDENHAM BITCHES.

Beagles. Beside the harrier, there is sport and good sport too, to be had with the beagle after hare, and those who are young and active and to whom the merry cry of hounds is a delight, will find a never-ending source of interest in hunting with these little hounds. This sport has too the advantage of being inexpensive, for it not only requires but a small outlay to start with, but necessitates a very moderate sum for the keeping up of the pack. Of course there are degrees of expenditure both in the management and hunting of beagles, to be determined by the means at your command, but a sportswoman can have a good and efficient pack of beagles in the field for very much less than she could have other hounds.

The first necessity, if you wish to hunt your own beagles, is to have a country to hunt over, and you must get leave to pursue your quarry over a farm or farms where there is a fair proportion of hares. The number of hares, indeed, need not be very great, as not very many will fall before beagles. Neither do you require a large extent of country to hunt over, as a hare is not likely to be driven right away, but in a majority of cases will circle round the place where she is found. Yet there is a charm in beagling, which lies in the open air, the active exercise, the music of the hounds, and the working out by them of the puzzles set by the hare.

When you have secured a country—or before, if you are so inclined—you will need to get together your pack. If a good pack of beagles should come into the market, you would do well to buy them, provided you do not mind the expense to start with. If, however, you do not object to trouble, and do mind the outlay, then, even before you think about country, you will buy some well-bred bitches and set to work to build up a pack. In any case, if you mean to have beagles, have them, and do not have dwarf harriers. The Beagle Stud-book will help you in your choice of strains. Go to good beagle kennels such as those of Sir Marteine Lloyd, or the Caledon, and having decided on the type for which you intend to breed, keep true to it.

Having succeeded, either by buying or breeding, in getting a pack, you will then have to keep your hounds up to a certain number. From about six to twelve couple will be all that you will want to take out, but this of course will mean that you want at least two couple more in reserve. You should breed a certain number of puppies every year, and in this you must be regulated to a great extent by the walks at your command. You might keep one couple at home, giving them a free run of the stables, yards and paddocks, and though you will find them troublesome and as mischievous as monkeys, their small size will prevent them being the unmitigated trouble that foxhound puppies undoubtedly are. Still, the infant beagle has a marvellous appetite for sponges, brushes, and all sorts of indigestible household requisites, and he will besides be credited by the servants with even more mischief than he really works. You will find some, or perhaps most of your field, ready to undertake the charge of a few couple—and those who come out regularly ought to look upon this as a duty—and for a small payment you can secure homes in cottages, with those who will look after the puppies carefully and intelligently, and who will, indeed, treat them so well that you will not improbably have a very sulky lot of little dogs to deal with, when they first come under kennel discipline.

Perhaps it may be thought that I have touched too lightly on the very difficult question of breeding beagles true to a type, for except it be the Clumber Spaniel there is no dog more likely to give you trouble than the beagle. Still it can be done successfully, and if you choose your bitches in the first instance and are careful in you selection of the sires, constant care, scrupulous cleanliness, careful feeding and regular exercise will do the rest.

The most charming and graceful type of hound, as well as the most likely to be useful in hunting, is one that corresponds in miniature to that of the foxhound. There should be the same alertness and good carriage, the good shoulders and straight legs of the larger hound, and any puppies that fall below the standard in any particular should be immediately drafted. To a certain extent you must be guided by the sort of country over which you are to hunt, for if this be fairly open, without thick coverts, stout fences or wide drains, then you will find a small lightly-built hound, of some fourteen or fifteen inches, the best, but if on the other hand, you have much plough and strong fences, you will require a beagle of the heavier and larger type, standing about sixteen or seventeen inches. With beagles as with other hounds, muteness is a fault which should immediately be met by drafting, and I would strongly advise the same even for great economy of tongue. Skirting or any suspicion of falsehood will meet with the same fate, as well as the very slightest symptom of jealousy, for the little hounds should score to cry at once.

There was in a pack I used to know well, a certain very handsome little bitch, aptly enough named "Fallible," which, when she found the hare, or touched the line first after a check, would hunt with the best, but if another hound was before her, she would scour away at right angles to the line, throwing her tongue vigorously when she had nothing whatever before her. So good was this hound when she pleased, and "such a pictur'" to look at, that it was a great wrench for the Master to part with her. It was found, however, that it was a choice between letting her go and having the whole pack demoralised, so "Fallible" carried her gifts and her failings elsewhere. This instance will also serve to remind you, that good hounds are not easily parted with from any kennel, and, therefore, it behoves you to be very careful in the choice of those you take into your own.

The kennelling and feeding of beagles is a comparatively simple matter, cleanliness, warmth and wholesome food being the great requisites. On the building of kennels you need not expend any great amount of money, as almost any out-buildings you may have can be adapted for the purpose. The cardinal points to be considered are:

(a) Freedom from damp.
(b) Freedom from draughts.
(c) Good ventilation overhead.

Then the hounds must on no account sleep on the floor, but have the usual benches provided, and there should be a palisaded or walled-in run, into which they can go from their sleeping room. If these points are attended to, the workmanship of the buildings may be almost as rough as you please, but above all things you must not let the use of the limewash brush be spared.

The scraps from the house boiled up with vegetables—with care that everything is perfectly sweet and fresh—and any good dog biscuit, will be found to answer for their food. No hounds will do well on biscuit only, and it should be remembered that rice is not nourishing food. Meat and vegetables are needed, and of the latter I should advise a certain amount of cabbage to be given. The amount of food, and this specially applies to meat, should be carefully proportioned to the number of days you hunt in the week, and the length of days you make.

It is a great mistake to feed hounds either too high, or too low. If you have not an experienced and trustworthy kennel-man, you should see the hounds fed yourself, and then observe the appetite and needs of each hound in the pack.

Hounds should have plenty of exercise before hunting, and as much on the road as you can give them when they are not hunting. They should be trotted out with horses if possible, and out of the season eight miles a day or even ten, will be found necessary to keep them in condition.

Since the establishment of the Association of Masters of Harriers and Beagles—which body I would strongly advise any woman interested in hound-breeding to join—and the foundation of Stud Books for both classes of hounds, immense strides have been made towards the perfection of the respective types. The competition for the prizes at Peterborough consequently becomes keener every year, and the glory of success is proportionately greater.

No one has done more for the improvement of the Beagle than Sir Marteine Lloyd, whose pack known as the Bronwydd Beagles, is the best, as it is one of the oldest packs in the land. A feature of this hunt, specially interesting to women, is that Miss Lloyd, Sir Marteine's daughter, takes an active part in the management of the hounds, and in the field acts as whipper in to her father. Miss Lloyd has been kind enough to write the following short account of her father's hounds, in which all beagle lovers will be interested.

Elliott and Fry. 55, Baker Street.
SIR MARTEINE LLOYD
AND SOME OF THE BRONWYDD BEAGLES.

[THE BRONWYDD BEAGLES.]

This pack was started in 1864 by my grandfather, the late Sir Thomas Lloyd. Next to the Royal Rock (started by Colonel Anstruther Thomson in 1845) they are the oldest pack of beagles in the kingdom. They measure 15-1/2 inches, and we generally have fifteen couples. They are pure bred; dwarf harriers never being admitted. In 1892, the Bronwydd "Nigel" won the Champion Cup at Peterborough, for the best dog-hound, and in 1894, the Cup was won by our "Merryboy." The Harrier and Beagle Show was started at Peterborough in 1889, as though before this there were rules laid down for foxhounds on the show bench, beagles had not been given similar attention, and it was suggested by my father and a few kindred spirits, that it was time to stop the continual drafting of dwarf harriers into beagle packs, regardless of rule or standard. My father consequently appealed to the Peterborough Committee, asking them to form a show for Harriers and Beagles upon the same principle as that on which the Fox-hound Show was based. In 1896, the Bronwydd Beagles celebrated their Jubilee. They have not been hunting this season.

SO BORED!

"Sir Marteine succeeded to the Mastership in 1877, but he had begun to hunt the hounds himself in 1867 at the age of sixteen, when the old huntsman, John Walters, retired. George Davies commenced his career as whip at the same time and I was added to the staff as whip a year ago."

I have only to add to this that the photograph of Sir Marteine Lloyd is taken on his mare "Grand Duchess," and that four of the hounds with him, named "Liberal," "Favourite," "Comical," and "Comely," are special favourites and excellent workers in the field.

class="sig"> Frances E. Slaughter.

Lombardi and Co. 13, Pall Mall East.
THE HON. MRS. LANCELOT LOWTHER.

[SHOOTING.]

In these few words on Shooting for Women, I must begin by saying that as this is my first attempt at writing, I hope any faults I may make will be lightly treated. It is only within the last few years that the idea of a woman being able to see a gun without screaming, much less fire one off, has even been thought of, but now I venture to say that there are many women who are just as good shots with both gun and rifle as men, and perhaps some better. I do not mean to infer that we can count amongst our number anyone who can take the place which Lord de Grey, Lord Walsingham, and a few others take amongst men, but as shooting becomes more popular, and is more practised among women, I daresay we shall in years to come see some of the latter just as good even as those I have named.

I am afraid it will take some time for men to get over the terror which the sight of a woman with a loaded gun in her hand always gives them. The reason of this is that they think we are much too careless to be trusted with such a dangerous weapon, and that we think no more of carrying a loaded gun than if we had a walking-stick in our hands. The first thing, therefore, that a women who takes up shooting has to remember is, that as an Irishman once said about a gun, "loaded or unloaded, she's dangerous." One cannot be too careful in handling either a gun or rifle, always to have it at half cock when not actually shooting, and always to take out the cartridges when getting over or through a fence. Accidents happen quite easily enough without Providence being tempted by the neglect of these simple precautions.

A woman requires a light gun if she is to carry it all day. There are, of course, as every one knows, a variety of different bores. I will mention the ones mostly used, which are the 20, 16, 14, and 12-bores. The 20 and 16-bores are mostly made for women, but personally I prefer a 12-bore double-barrel hammerless gun. Of course it must be made rather lighter than for a man. I have always myself used one of these that was specially made for me, weighing exactly 6 lbs., both barrels medium choke, and a thick india-rubber pad at the end of the stock to prevent all recoil. The cartridges I use are made with Schultze powder 35 grains, and seven-eighths of No. 6 shot. I have found this a perfect gun, and one I should always recommend. It is not too heavy, and is first-rate for shooting pheasants, partridges, pigeons, etc.

The great thing in ordering a gun is to have it very well balanced, a thing which is hard to describe but which is easily told apart, as no one who has tried the two can fail to appreciate the well-balanced gun as against the badly-balanced one. It chiefly consists in having the muzzle and stock of the gun to divide their weight, neither one nor the other being a half ounce too heavy. When choosing a gun, it is necessary to put it several times quickly to the shoulder at an object level with the eye, and if the sight taken comes fair on the mark aimed at, the gun will probably suit. Another thing to remember and guard against, is having cartridges loaded too heavily for the gun, as it makes the gun "kick," and nothing puts you off shooting so much as expecting every time you fire to have your shoulder bruised. This is beside very dangerous for a woman. If, however, a gun fits you properly, and the charge of the cartridges is proportionate to the size of the gun, a "kick" should never happen.

You must also be particular to have the stock exactly the right length, so that it can be brought up quickly and easily to the shoulder. It must be held firmly against the shoulder, with the left arm extended as straight as possible from the shoulder and the right hand behind the trigger guard.

More accidents happen by following game with the gun than by any other means. There are very strict rules of etiquette to be observed in shooting, as in hunting or any other sport, and nobody is more hated and feared than a jealous shot. These are indeed a source of danger to everyone, as they are always so anxious to add another bird to their score that they never give any thought to their neighbours, or think of other people. For a person, whether a man or woman, who is beginning to shoot, the best thing is to go out with some experienced shot or keeper who will thoroughly explain the art of shooting, and show how to load and unload a gun and how to hold it. To quote from the excellent article on Shooting in the Badminton Library: "A beginner should at first start with a small charge of powder and be taught to fire this off at small birds, every attention being paid to his handling his gun with safety as if it were loaded. He may next shoot at small birds with a half ounce of shot. If he succeed pretty well, and is above all things careful in the way he manages his gun, he can next be permitted to fire at pigeons—with their wings slightly clipped, so as not to fly too fast—from under a flower-pot or out of a trap, at a distance of fifteen yards."

CLAY PIGEON TRAP.
(Used at Charles Lancaster's Shooting Grounds.)

You must remember that accuracy of aim will only come by practice. When you are fairly sure of yourself the next step is to go out to walk birds up, but you must get it carefully explained by an authority what birds you ought to fire at, and what are to be left alone, and on no account should you, if walking in line, fire across a neighbour's gun, or at birds that strictly belong to others from their having got up nearer to them than to you. It is always better to fire a yard too far ahead of flying birds or running game than too far in the rear. In the former case, the shot is more likely to meet the mark, in the latter it never can. In the former if it does count a hit it means one in a vital part, the head, in the latter at most it means a wound in the extremities. It is utterly impossible to measure distances in the air in front of a flying bird or running game; instinct, aided by practical experience, will alone teach the hand and eye to obey the brain in this respect, and to give the correct distance at which to aim in front.

If a rifle is required for small game such as rabbits and young rooks, a 300-bore Holland rook rifle would be useful. Rifle shooting is a far more difficult thing, and requires more practice than shooting with a gun. You must have a very steady hand and straight eye to be a good rifle shot. It has often been remarked that a woman as a rule shoots better with a rifle than a gun. I do not quite know why this should be the case, but so it is. When shooting with a rifle one must never forget that a bullet from even one of the smallest rifles goes a very considerable distance.

I used, as a girl, to have many an enjoyable evening's sport with my rifle in the park at home, stalking "Brer" rabbit, of which there were any number, but the difficulty was to get up to them, as they were very shy from being constantly shot at, and at the slightest noise used to scurry off and disappear like lightning down their burrows. Some evenings I used to bring home two or three rabbits, though oftener than not, none at all, but whatever the result, it was all the same a very pleasant way of spending a summer's evening, and there was a good deal of excitement about it. Then another great amusement of both my brother's and mine was rook shooting. Most people, unless they have tried it themselves, would think there couldn't be much sport in shooting at a young rook sitting quietly on a branch of a tree unable to fly away, but let them once try rook shooting with a 300-bore rifle, when there is enough wind to blow the trees about, and they will find it requires no small amount of skill to fetch down a young rook from the top of a high tree which is gently swaying to and fro. There are two difficulties in this particular form of shooting which affect a woman perhaps more than a man. The strained attitude in aiming, necessitated by the height at which the rooks build their nests, causes serious stiffness at the back of the neck, which soon communicates with the muscles of the shoulders and obliges one to rest awhile. Again, and this more especially occurs when the tree-tops are moving, the tiny target a young rook makes when peeping out of its nest, will soon become indistinguishable among the twigs and branches around it, unless the sight taken is both instantaneous and accurate. Many a time has it happened to me to gaze and gaze down the barrel of my rifle vainly attempting to draw a bead upon the swinging rooklet, until everything becomes blurred and blotted, and I was perforce obliged to bring the rifle down in despair.

I may say at once that I have a decided preference for the rifle as opposed to the gun, though I should be the last to minimise the pleasures of pheasant and partridge shooting. I am not one of those women who prefer the excitement of a regular "battue" to the more sober joys of a quiet pot-hunt. To begin with, there is no doubt that a woman is a great bore at anything like an organised shooting party. It would do the intending lady-shot good to see the faces of the men on hearing that they are to have the honour of her company during the day. The smothered grumbles of the younger sportsmen are drowned in the more forcible ejaculations of the older generation. But apart from this, and I am not for one moment assuming that it is the duty of women to consider exclusively the whims of the sterner sex, there always seems to me to be some special enjoyment in sallying forth with the object of replenishing an exhausted larder, and with the certainty of having to work one's hardest to accomplish the task. Every shot then becomes of importance, and the comparative scarcity of the prey redoubles one's vigilance and activity. Should the wily partridge elude your aim on these occasions, you feel as if some tremendous disaster had occurred, and your spirits do not recover their normal condition until some special success has rewarded your efforts, and a long and difficult shot has added another victim to the bag. In shooting, as in so many other pursuits, it is quality not quantity that should be sought.

From a Painting by Miss Maud Earl.
POINTER ON PARTRIDGE.

One of the most amusing day's shooting I ever remember was a hare drive in Austria. We left the house at one o'clock and drove about eight miles through a very flat country to the "rendezvous," where we found a perfect army of beaters who were chatting volubly in an unknown tongue. I discovered later that they were talking Polish, which is the common language of the peasants in that part of Silesia adjoining the Austrian-Russian frontier. The men were mostly barefooted, but in other respects resembled the average English beater. The keepers were distinguished by their green livery and Austrian conical hats. They carried horns slung from their shoulders, and when a line had been formed some quarter of a mile in length, the signal was given by the head-keeper on his horn and was taken up by his subordinates. An excellent method was observed in allotting a certain number of beaters to the care of each keeper, who was then responsible for their maintaining a good line and preventing stragglers.

The ten guns were of course distributed at intervals along the line, and we started across level fields of potato and beet-root sugar roots which took the place of our turnips, and were much easier to walk through. There were no fences, and the fields were divided by ditches and low banks. Game was plentiful, and although we only shot for about two-and-a-half hours, we succeeded in killing about two hundred hares and several partridges. The beater who carried my cartridges was greatly excited whenever I was fortunate enough to kill a hare, and jabbered away in his native tongue. I have never heard anything approaching that language. It is a fearful and wonderful thing, and I wished I could have brought some of it away with me to use on special occasions in England. The only drawback was the weather. It rained cats and dogs, and while I was glad to note that England has not the monopoly of inclement weather, I must confess that the Austrians think no more of a wet jacket than we do. At five o'clock we gave up, and returned home wet to the skin, but none the less my husband and I have the pleasantest recollection of our first day's shooting in Austria.

Before closing this article I must refer shortly to the subject of dress. The first thing to remember, is always to have a dress of some dark or neutral tinted material that will not be conspicuous on a moor or when birds are being driven, and which will also keep out the rain. A short skirt, breeches, thick boots, and either woollen stockings or gaiters, and a double-breasted loose coat are the most convenient as well as the most sportsman-like. But the coat must be loosely made, so as to allow one to bring the gun up to the shoulder quickly and easily, otherwise it will seriously interfere with the shooting.

Gwendoline Lowther.

From a Painting by Miss Maud Earl.
IRISH SETTERS.
CHAMPIONS SHANDON II. AND GERALDINE.

A friend, whose name I may not divulge, has kindly given me the following notes, and I venture to think that their excellence will make them acceptable, even though the writer prefers to remain unknown.—Editor.

Shooting is a sport which requires neatness, accuracy, and the most persevering practice. Its real pleasure lies in successful shots rather than in the number of slain. Of course this does not mean that you should chance doubtful shots, but rather that you should gain the skill enabling you to kill a driven grouse, or partridge, or rabbit crossing a ride, or a high-flying pheasant, neatly, instantaneously, and with scarcely the loss of a feather or fluff of fur. To do this, constant, steady and unremitting practice will be necessary.

With regard to the choice of a gun I have little to add to Mrs. Lowther's remarks. Many people would say that you might begin practising with a common gun, but my strong advice is to get a good weapon to learn with, for you will overcome difficulties much more easily if you have a really good gun, and one that fits. The good shot, indeed, may do fairly well with a less perfect gun, but in my opinion a beginner should have the best possible weapons to her hand. Bad shooting will not spoil a good gun, but an uncomfortable ill-fitting, too heavy gun, may spoil the novice as a shot for ever.

Having chosen a suitable gun, the next thing to do is to learn to shoot. If the gun fits you well, this is no difficult matter, at all events up to a certain point. Aim should be constantly taken at a small paper target set up in a room, and regular practice should be had every day at bringing the gun quickly up to the shoulder, with the sight on the mark at which you aim. Thus, fixing the eye on the imaginary point at which you are shooting, and holding the gun lightly and firmly, bring it up to the shoulder so that as soon as it is in position you could fire at the object without delay. As soon as you find you can do this, the gun still unloaded, should be the companion of your walks, and should be brought up to the shoulder in the same way at birds, rabbits, or any mark animate or inanimate that you please. This practice will have the double advantage of training your eye and hand, and accustoming you to the weight of the gun, which though not great, will yet be felt after you have tramped a good many miles.

Then you need to learn to judge distance. A good plan is to fix on an object in front of you when out for a walk, and after saying to yourself how far it is off, to pace the distance. Another good plan is to cut out of cardboard a rough figure of a bird, pheasant, or partridge, and fasten it to a tree. Then measure forty yards, thirty-five yards, and twenty yards, for you should never shoot at birds much nearer than that. After this begin at twenty yards and move slowly back, aiming every yard or so and making mental notes of the size of the cardboard bird as it appears to you. Half the missing, and more than half the wounded birds, come from a want of power to judge distance. Fortunately continued practice is very easy, and you should be always measuring distance when you are out walking.

Boys when they learn to shoot either go out with the keeper or get shots at jays, hawks, or other vermin in the woods, or they surreptitiously prowl about the hedges and shoot at anything that moves. But there are objections to both these plans for women, who may not have woods in which to range, and it is hardly necessary to say that the shooting of small birds is not to be encouraged. So for the next step I would suggest the clay pigeon. I have found that practice at these is very useful, and the flights are so ingeniously arranged that plenty of variety is given to the shooting. If there are several shooting people in the house, it will be possible to organise little competitions and sweeps which will improve your shooting by the spirit of emulation. I may add, by the way, that in country houses a clay bird shooting competition is a capital thing to fill up the day in the cub-hunting season, when after an early morning's sport, the rest of the day sometimes hangs heavily on our visitors' hands.

The next step is to the rabbit, though bunny is a most difficult and deceptive animal to shoot, having been made by nature at least six inches too short. The best way for a beginner to shoot rabbits is to go out with the ferrets, and get shots at them as they are bolted. I prefer shooting rabbits in this way for quite a beginner, to stalking them in the open when feeding near their holes, as until one is pretty sure of killing them, there is always a danger of wounding them, and then they creep away into their burrows to die miserably. Never shoot at a rabbit going dead away from you, and learn from the first to aim well forward. Of course the easiest of all shots for a beginner is at a hare crossing in covert, but hares are hardly numerous enough in most places and often are more or less preserved for harriers or coursing. By the time you can hit a wood pigeon and bowl over a rabbit neatly, you will have made some progress, and will be able to take up the various kinds of shooting in turn.

I will speak of grouse first, because these birds afford the very best shooting possible. For women who have the opportunity, there is no doubt that driven grouse are in some respects more suitable to their powers than the birds to be obtained after a long fagging tramp over the moors. With the universal popularity of driving, both with shooters and the owners of moors, such opportunities are likely to come frequently in the way of women, whose means enable them to shoot in Scotland. Driving is popular with owners because it is better for the moors, a larger proportion of old and therefore useless and injurious birds being thinned out by this method, than when a moor is shot over dogs in the ordinary way. With shooters it is popular, because driven grouse afford perhaps the finest shots of any known game, with the possible exception of the Himalayan pheasants, as they sweep with their grand rush down the sides of the mountains.

There are certain points which all shooters of driven grouse should bear in mind, one being that the eyes should be, so to speak, working in front of the gun, which should come to the shoulder with one movement, and the trigger be pulled at once. It is this instinctive action in shooting which makes the constant practice, on which so much stress has been laid, so necessary. It cannot, so far as I know, be acquired in any other way, but if a woman has the perseverance and keenness necessary, she is likely to acquire it more quickly than a man.

Birds, it must be remembered, coming at the pace of driven grouse, fly into the shot, and therefore the shooter must aim further in front than would be the case with birds going at a slower pace. But the angle at which the birds are coming, their height, and the inclination of their flight, all make a difference. Infinite variety is the characteristic of shots at driven birds, and it will need all the coolness and steadiness of nerve of the shooter to meet each occasion as it arises with promptness and success. When the birds are coming within shot, the gunner should fix on the bird she means to shoot at first, this being the one which is easiest for her, that is to say, the one which offers the sort of shot at which she is best, and at which, therefore, she can fire with the most confidence. Then keeping her gun at the shoulder, she will take the second available one. There is no necessity to look to see if the first one has fallen, for if you have missed you can do no more, and if it is dead you should waste no more time on it. This is undoubtedly the method of shooting grouse most suitable to women. It gives the minimum of fatigue with the maximum of skill, and it is to skill rather than bodily force to which a woman must look if she would excel in sport. For however young, strong, and active she may be, it must never be forgotten by the prudent sportswoman, that we are the weaker sex.

If, however, the moor on which the woman has the chance of shooting is not suitable for driving, and some far northern moors yield better results to dogs, then she may try her luck over the pointers and setters. Very delightful you will find this, but it is well not to overtax your strength, not only on your own account, but also to avoid being regarded as an encumbrance by the male members of the party. Beats near the lodge, if possible, should be chosen, and luncheon should, in my opinion, be the signal for the prudent sportswoman to retire.

When I turn from the grouse to the partridge I shall probably have a much larger public, for partridge shooting is, next to the rabbit, the most easily attainable form of sport. It varies in quality of course, but is always enjoyable, though it requires very much smaller expenditure than the grouse. Almost every girl that can use her gun, may hope to get a shot at partridges. The partridge is little inferior to the grouse, or perhaps I may say, it is only inferior in its surroundings. In its pursuit the wild romantic scenery of the moor, will be exchanged for the tamer but not less beautiful landscape of the manor. There are three ways of shooting partridges, the drive, walking up, and shooting over dogs. The first of these is only suitable for large estates, and is not therefore within the reach of many women. I well remember the first time I saw one. The friend to whom I owe most of my shooting, whom I will call Mrs. Robinson, had herself learned to use her gun in order to accompany her husband who was very fond of the sport, and when the management of the estates fell into her hands, she threw herself enthusiastically into the improvement of the shootings. Mrs. Robinson does not drive her estate, as she holds that walking up and shooting over dogs is more suitable for her ground. But she has a neighbour, Lord B., who does, and it was when I was staying with my old friend, that the latter asked us both over for a "drive."

I was all excitement at the prospect, novelty having ever a charm for me, though I was a little nervous too as to how I should acquit myself. My friend offered some earnest advice. "I have told Lord B. you are a capital shot, so do keep cool, and remember that the birds fly much faster than when you are shooting over dogs or walking, and, therefore, the allowance must be greater. In the first drive you will probably find yourself placed about twenty yards from a high hedge. Stay where you are placed, and watch the top of the hedge, and try to shoot the birds as they appear in sight over it. There are a good many red-legs on the estate, so you may expect plenty of single shots. If you should be near Colonel A. watch him, for he is one of the finest shots in England, both for style and results." It was with a decided feeling of nervousness that I found myself, as my friend had said, stationed about twenty yards or more behind a high and rather thick hedge. "You will get some really sporting shots here," said Colonel A. as he went on to his own station, which I saw was near to mine. As it happened he got the first birds. I saw his gun go up—quickly but without flurry—and he fired as it were all in one motion. Two birds were topping the hedge, and a brace of dead partridges dropped, killed neatly and instantaneously. Almost immediately afterwards I got my chance at a single bird. My performance was not so neat, for the bird went on, towered, and fell behind us. I need not go into a long history of the day's performance, suffice it to say I came away thoroughly delighted with partridge driving. The number, variety and sporting character of the shots, made it a most exciting day, and when at the close the slain totalled up to 123 brace, I felt that we had had a really fine shoot. It was not that I took actual pleasure in the numbers killed, but I had never before seen so many birds which afforded such sporting shots. I have been almost inclined since that experience to put partridge driving, for actual skill displayed, at the head of shooting.

As an illustration of shooting partridges by walking up, I may give an account of a day's shooting over some of Mrs. Robinson's best ground. Our party consisted of our hostess, Lord B. and his son, the rector of the parish and myself. To each of us was assigned a man and a dog, and in the dogs I took the greatest interest, as they had been bred and broken by my father and myself. But of these more anon. They were three good dogs, and one super-excellent one, named Dinah, a black retriever. There was also a brace of pointers, to save time on the turnips. Mrs. Robinson adopted the formation of beaters and guns recommended by Mr. Stuart Wortley in his delightful volume on the Partridge—which every shooter should read and re-read—that is, of a semicircle, with a gun in the centre and one on each flank. This is undoubtedly the best plan, for more, and I think better, shots are obtained than by walking in a straight line. In root crops we left the beaters, and let loose the pointers, which is a saving of time, and is far the most effectual. Two guns went with each dog and took the points in turn. The root crops finished, the pointers were called up and the beat resumed. Then we used to walk up the partridges on the various beats. The estate was well preserved, the keeper being both popular and efficient.

But I think perhaps the days I liked best were those on which my friend and I went out alone, with two steady pointers and my dear old Dinah, and picked up what birds we could. Of course it is difficult now to make large bags over dogs, even where birds are plentiful, as they do not lie to dogs in the shaven fields of modern times as they used to do in the days of stubble fields, nevertheless, we were generally able to pick up four or five brace in a morning, and a few rabbits. Hares were preserved for a pack of harriers, much affected by the farmers on the estate. Sometimes too, we would beat the hedgerows with a brace of good clumbers for rabbits, or stray pheasants, and once, in a little copse or spinney, we found, and I shot, a woodcock.

In turning to the subject of pheasants I have not a great deal to say, the opportunity of shooting them in these days coming but rarely to women. There are many reasons why a woman is out of place in big shoots, and as pheasants now are not often shot in any other way, it is not easy to get much practice at them. Nevertheless, there are one or two places on my father's property where, with a steady old setter, I can generally find a brace of pheasants or more. A pheasant flushed in a hedgerow, is no doubt sometimes an easy shot when you are in practice, but it is good for beginners, as is everything that gives you confidence in yourself. When you shoot your first pheasant and he comes down stone-dead, you feel you really are a sportswoman, and a new confidence which brings success in its train, springs up in your heart. In woods, of course, the birds give a greater trial of skill, as you must as a rule make longer shots, for they will be travelling much faster.

I seem to have said but little about pheasants which are after all the most important game, but the principles of shooting are the same in all cases, and with such pheasants as come in your way, you will be able to deal, if you read and put in practice the general precepts I have given, not forgetting to attend to the list of "Don'ts" to be found at the end.

We now come to rabbits, which are very important from one point of view, for the woman who can get nothing else can often get shots at "Bunny." There are so many ways you can get him. You may bolt him with ferrets, you may stalk him with a rabbit rifle or a gun, you may drive him out of covert with fox terriers or beagles, or you may make him the occasion of a big shoot of his own. There is one thing about the rabbit which is invaluable, he hardly ever offers you an easy shot, and very often he is one of the hardest animals in the world to hit. Rabbit shooting in company, unless that company be one of the most select, is decidedly dangerous, for more stray, careless and excited shots are made at rabbits than at any other form of sport. I am somewhat solitary in my sporting tastes, and much as I love the chasse aux lapins, I like it in solitude, or at all events with one trusted companion.

The form that I really prefer is that which in my younger days prevailed in Sussex, of bringing the rabbits out of their haunts with a small pack of rough beagles, the charming cry of these little hounds adding greatly to the pleasure of the day. About four couples are quite enough, and they should be well under control or you may find yourself toiling after your vanishing pack as they run the line of a hare, or even a fox. Beagles which are wanted for this kind of work should be kept strictly to rabbits and well exercised, so that they may be steady. Some preparation is desirable for a day of this kind, and in order to keep the rabbits above ground it is wise to run muzzled ferrets through the burrows a day or two before. The rabbits will then lie above ground. There is near my home a hill covered with patches of gorse, which we keep for this kind of shooting. We are very careful about our invited guns, as a careless shot easily mistakes a beagle for a rabbit. Indeed this sport requires great care and steadiness. But to my mind it is one of the most exciting and enjoyable of sports, the cry of the little hounds, the ringing shots, the dart of the little brown forms with their snowy patches of white down, the pleasure of success as the neatly-killed "bunny" turns over dead in his tracks, make up a most delightful whole for the enthusiastic gunner. The same kind of sport can be followed by spaniels, free-tongued dogs of any race being the best. Spaniels are better than any other dogs for working thick hedgerows, into which rabbits have been previously bolted by ferrets. Some people use terriers, but I only advise these when you have no other dogs handy. It is most difficult to keep terriers above ground. They should at any rate never be taken out in the spring, if you know of an earth in which a vixen fox may have lain up, or into coverts where foxes are.

If you wish to enjoy the pleasures of deer stalking on a small scale, take out a small rifle and stalk rabbits. You will find it a most entrancing sport, calling out all your knowledge of woodcraft, and teaching you much you did not know before. You will not shoot many rabbits, but those you do get will be well earned. Remember, however, that bullets from these rifles travel a long way, and that you should always know what is behind the rabbit when you shoot. By the time you can kill a rabbit fairly often, at from fifty to sixty yards with a bullet, you will be a good shot.

From a Painting by Miss Maud Earl.
FLAT-COATED RETRIEVER.
CHAMPION DARENTH.