110 THOUGHTS ON HUNTING 



With nostrils opening wide, o'er hill, o'er dale 

 The vig'rous hounds pursue, with ev'ry breath 

 Inhale the grateful steam, quick pleasures sting 

 Their tingling nerves, while they their thanks repay, 

 And in triumphant melody confess 

 The titillating joy. Thus, on the air 

 Depend the hunter's hopes. 



I cannot agree with Mr. Somerville, in thinking 

 that scent depends on the air only : it depends also on 

 the soil. Without doubt, the best scent is that which 

 is occasioned by the effluvia, as he calls it, or particles 

 of scent, which are constantly perspiring from the 

 game as it runs, and are strongest and most favourable 

 to the hound, when kept by the gravity of the air to 

 the height of his breast ; for then it neither is above 

 his reach, nor is it necessary that he should stoop for 

 it. At such times, scent is said to lie breast-high} 

 Experience tells us, that difference of soil occasions 

 difference of scent ; and on the richness and moderate 

 moisture of the soil does it also depend, I think, as 

 well as on the air. At the time when leaves begin to 

 fall, and before they are rotted, we know that the 

 scent lies ill in cover. This alone would be a sufficient 

 proof that scent does not depend on the air only. A 

 difference of scent is also occasioned by difference of 

 motion : the faster the game goes, the less scent it 

 leaves. When game has been ridden after, and 

 hurried on by imprudent sportsmen, the scent is less 

 favourable to hounds : one reason of which may be, 

 that the particles of scent are then more dissipated : 



I 1 We know as little about scent now as they did a hundred years 

 ago, but it is generally safe to assume that it will never be first class with 

 a falling barometer.] 



