Wolf-IUintiiTj; in Russia 



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hounds, for we hunted on alternate days with 

 greyhounds alone. 



One could well believe that foxes might re- 

 main a long time in the woods, even when 

 pursued by such noise ; but it seemed to me 

 that the hares* would have passed the line of 

 posts more quickly than they did. At the 

 suitable moment, when the game was seen, 

 the nearest leash was slipped, and when they 

 seemed to be on the point of losing another 

 and sometimes a third was slipped. The poor 

 fox -hounds were not allowed to leave the 

 woods; the moment the game appeared in the 

 open space they were driven back by the stiff 

 riders with their cruel whips. The true fox- 

 hound blood showed itself, and to succeed in 

 beating some of them off the trail, especially 

 the young ones, required most rigorous action 

 on the part of all. This seemed to me a pros- 

 titution of the good qualities of a race care- 

 fully bred for centuries, and, while realizing 

 the necessity of the practice for that variety 



* There are two varieties : the so-called white hare and the so- 

 called red hare. The former becomes white in winter, and weighs, 

 when full grown, ten pounds ; the latter has a reddish gray coat 

 which does not change, and weighs about one and a half pounds less 

 than the other variety. The red hare frequents the fields less than 

 does the white. The foxes are the ordinary red ones. 



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