328 HUNTING PRELIMINARIES. 



The show, with its luncheon for the exhibitors, is a pleasant 

 and useful function for the promotion of good feeling in 

 the country towards hunting. 



BLOOD. 



In the general pursuit of game as a sport, the idea among 

 Englishmen is that the quarry should have a fair chance of 

 escape. Therefore, digging out a fox which has gone to 

 earth and giving him to the hounds to be broken up, may 

 appear at first glance to be unsportsmanlike. On the other 

 hand, we have the fact, that to be keen, hounds require 

 blood. Tom Firr puts the case admirably in the following 

 words : " When a bad, short-running fox goes to ground 

 for instance, if he can be got out and dispatched, so much 

 the better, for he is the sort to blood hounds with. It must 

 be borne in mind that it is necessary to keep hounds well in 

 blood. On the other hand, if a fox makes a point of seven 

 or eight miles, or as many more as you like, and goes to 

 ground, cheer the hounds at the earth to the very echo, 

 rejoice over it as if you had him, but by all means leave him 

 there. He is the sort you want for another day." 



On this subject, Captain King-King tells me that " I cannot 

 imagine anyone but an ignorant theorist upholding the idea 

 that blood is needless for hounds. The way to break a hawk 

 from undesirable game is to fly her at it with her legs 

 weighted, and she will soon leave off the pursuit of the 

 unattainable, unlike some human beings. Also, setters and 

 pointers will not remain keen, if the man who shoots over 

 them keeps continually missing. It is true that staghounds 

 very seldom get blood ; but they have comparatively speaking 

 no difficulties to daunt and dispirit them. Not for them is 

 the dusty scentless fallow, or the almost impenetrable stick 

 or gorse covert, and they always have a scent. Yet for all 

 that, we often hear of deer being ' left out.' When hounds 



