THE FELL HOUNDS 57 



the fact that the hounds are perfect in their work, 

 they will fetch comparatively httle, as they are not 

 up to the fashionable standard in looks. 



All this could be avoided if the show standard 

 was considered from the point of view of the 

 suitability of the hound to its particular country. 

 Masters could then afford to breed hounds with 

 this object, knowing that when they wished to get 

 rid of them they would fetch a sum commensurate 

 with their working abihty. 



It has often been stated that hounds require 

 blood to keep them keen and up to the mark. 

 Now, I thmk there are few hounds keener than 

 those which hunt the fells, yet they seldom, if 

 ever, break up their foxes in the accepted sense of 

 the word. Now and then I have seen hounds 

 break up and eat the greater portion of their fox, 

 but, as a rule, they are content to kill it and leave 

 it at that. American-bred hounds never get 

 blood, yet they hunt season after season as keenly 

 as English hounds which are " blooded up to the 

 eyes." During a long sojourn in Canada, I met 

 and corresponded with a good many keen hunting 

 men, quite a few of whom had imported English 

 hounds to that country and the States. Much of 

 the hunting country out there is very rough, and 

 hounds are hunted on foot, or ridden to by nicking 

 in and making for likely points. All the American 

 foxhunters I got in touch with were emphatic in 



