TRAINING AND HUNTING 57 



the kennel, also on the return to it. Place the 

 back of the hand to the hound's nose; if it is 

 cold and moist, he is all right. If it is warm 

 and dry he should not be hunted, but given a 

 dose of castor oil and light road exercise. The 

 nose is the only absolutely correct indicator of 

 condition in a hound. 



A bag fox can be liberated occasionally in 

 blooding young hounds. They never run like 

 a wild fox, even when they are fresh and unin- 

 jured; they generally go "down wind," and 

 though hounds run them in a half-hearted way, 

 the fox seldom, when turned down under fa- 

 vorable conditions for trailing, gets his " ticket 

 of leave." With twenty minutes' license, 

 hounds should kill in about the same amount 

 of time after being laid on the line. Never 

 attempt to call or collect your hounds by a false 

 call to game. You may fool them a few times, 

 but they will soon find you out and you will 

 realize that you have cried wolf once too often. 



All hounds should be taught to swim, but do 

 not do it by throwing them into the water. 

 When the water is warm enough not to chill, 

 take them out in a boat a short distance from 

 the shore, place them gently in the water, and 

 pull ashore fast enough to prevent efforts to 

 get into the boat. It is seldom that more than 



