THE FELL HOUNDS 67 



to that on the fells, so the imported hounds find 

 themselves more or less " at home." Col. Roger D. 

 Williams, M.r.H. (Iroquois Hunt Club, Kentucky), 

 in his book " Horse and Hound," has this to say, 

 when comparing sport in England and the States : 



" The problem that confronts the American 

 hound is an altogether different proposition. Our 

 coverts and forests are extremely large, the foxes 

 remaining wild and timid, and seldom pass twenty- 

 four hours without a run of from four to eight 

 hours, the hounds frequently running them by 

 themselves without hunters (unless the packs are 

 large they are not kennelled and generally run at 

 large). 



" One or two ambitious hounds will alone get 

 up a fox at dusk, and as they circle through the 

 neighbourhood all the hounds in hearing ' hark ' 

 to them until ten or a dozen couples are hustling 

 him in full cry. Does the fox go to earth ? Not 

 he, earth stoppers are unnecessary ; he will lead 

 them a merry chase as long as he can drag one foot 

 behind the other, or until daylight warns him he 

 had better * seek the seclusion that his burrow 

 grants.' I have, upon more than one occasion in 

 the ' Blue Grass Country,' heard two and three 

 different packs in the middle of the night, each one 

 after a different fox, making music that would 

 cause the blood to go galloping through one's 

 veins like a racehorse. 



