118 THOUGHTS ON HUNTING 



of scent ; if they cannot carry it forward, they will 

 turn, and hunt it back again : hounds that are left to 

 themselves, make a fault of this ; and it is, I think, 

 the only one they commonly have. Though it be 

 certainly best to let your hounds alone, and thereby 

 to give as much scope to their natural instinct as you 

 can ; yet, in this particular instance, you should check 

 it mildly ; for, as it is almost an invariable rule in all 

 hunting to make the head good, you should encourage 

 them to try forward first ; which may be done without 

 taking them off their noses, or without the least 

 prejudice to their hunting. If trying forward should 

 not succeed, they may then be suffered to try back 

 again, which you will find them all ready enough 

 to do ; for they are sensible how far they brought the 

 scent, and where they left it. The love of scent is 

 natural to them, and they have infinitely more 

 sagacity in it than we ought to pretend to : I have no 

 doubt that they often think us very obstinate, and 

 very foolish. 



Harriers, to be good, like all other hounds, must be 

 kept to their own game : if you run fox with them, 

 you spoil them. Hounds cannot be perfect, unless 

 used to one scent, and one style of hunting. Harriers 

 run fox in so different a style from hare, that it is 

 of great disservice to them when they return to hare 

 again : it makes them wild, and teaches them to skirt. 

 The high scent which a fox leaves, the straightness of 



directly behind hare-hounds ; but it is one of the first rules of hunting 

 never to follow directly in the wake of a pack, be they after either 

 fox or hare.] 



