us periods, but history rather tends to show that otter-hunting
was originally associated with a mixed pack, and some of Sir Walter
Scott's pages seem to indicate that the Dandie Dinmont and kindred
Scottish terriers had a good deal to do with the sport. It is more
than probable that the rough-coated terrier is identical with the
now recognised Otterhound as an offshoot of the Southern Hound; but
be that as it may, there has been a special breed of Otterhound for
the last eighty years, very carefully bred and gradually much improved
in point of appearance. They are beautiful hounds to-day, with heads
as typical as those of Bloodhounds, legs and feet that would do for
Foxhounds, a unique coat of their own, and they are exactly suitable
for hunting the otter, as everyone knows who has had the enjoyment
of a day's sport on river or brook.

The greatest otter hunter of the last century may have been the Hon.
Geoffrey Hill, a younger brother of the late Lord Hill. A powerful
athlete of over six feet, Major Hill was an ideal sportsman in
appearance, and he was noted for the long distances he would travel
on foot with his hounds. They were mostly of the pure rough sort,
not very big; the dogs he reckoned at about 23-1/2 inches, bitches
22: beautiful Bloodhound type of heads, coats of thick, hard hair,
big in ribs and bones, and good legs and feet.

Major Hill seldom exhibited his hounds. They were seen now and then
at Birmingham; but, hunting as hard as they did through Shropshire,
Staffordshire, Cheshire, and into Wales, where they got their best
water, there was not much time for showing. Their famous Master has
been dead now many years, but his pack is still going, and shows great
sport as the Hawkstone under the Mastership of Mr. H. P. Wardell,
the kennels being at Ludlow race-course, Bromfield.

The leading pack in the Kingdom for the last sixty years, at any rate,
has been the Carlisle when in the hands of Mr. J. C. Carrick, who
was famous both for the sport he showed and for his breed of
Otterhound, so well represented at all the important shows. Such
hounds as Lottery and Lucifer were very typical specimens; but of
late years the entries of Otterhounds have not been very numerous
at the great exhibitions, and this can well be explained by the fact
that they are wanted in greater numbers for active service, there
being many more packs than formerly--in all, twenty-one for the
United Kingdom.

The sport of otter-hun