72 WOLF-HUNTING. 



attractive scent, so tempting to young hounds, in the shape 

 of hare, fox, martin cat, wild boar, and deer of different kinds, 

 always to be met with in the covers frequented by the wolf, 

 but, from the want of " rides " or even footpaths, the covers 

 themselves are, many of them, all but impenetrable, and so 

 rocky that it is quite impossible for a score of piqueurs to 

 check riot when hounds have settled to it in earnest in their 

 deep ravines. Added to which, the scent of a wolf is at first 

 distasteful to hounds ; and many a time will a young hound, on 

 crossing the fresh line, put up every bristle on his back, and, 

 with strong symptoms of disgust and alarm, take refuge behind 

 the heel of the nearest piqueur. Nor is this repugnance to the 

 scent evinced by the cowardly or ill-bred hound ; the most cou- 

 rageous puppy, famous for its ancestry of high-mettled wolf- 

 hunters, will equally turn tail on its first acquaintance with the 

 distasteful scent. The force of example, however, soon cures this 

 difficulty, and the fire of the pack rapidly kindles a like flame in 

 the well-bred hound. The covers and the " riot " with which 

 they abound are the chief hindrance ; nor is this ever sufficiently 

 overcome to render it safe to throw a pack of hounds into cover 

 and draw for the wild beast without the aid of a trained limier and 

 piqueur : the former to mark the line, and by his action to indicate 

 whether the scent is fresh or stale ; and the latter with his eye, 

 keen and practised as that of a Red Indian, to detect by slot, 

 spur, or heel, the nature of the game on which the hound is 

 drawing on his game. 



The ancient process of entering hounds at wolf is described 

 at length by Jacques du Fouilloux im that quaint work of his 

 entitled " La Venerie," an authority regarded by the Gallic chas- 

 seurs of old with the highest respect, and quoted by them as 

 Beckford is by the houndsmen of this country. It is not remark- 

 able that " The Thoughts " of the latter, sound in reason as the 

 arguments of " Blackstone's Commentaries," and published in the 



