96 FOXHUNTING ON LAKELAND FELLS 



his best pace unless hard pressed, instead he places 

 a convenient distance between himself and the 

 pack, and accommodates his pace to theirs. If he 

 ran his hardest on a bad scenting day he would be 

 liable to run into other dangers ahead, for, for all 

 he knows, there may be other hounds in front of 

 him, so he travels as slowly as he dare, while 

 keeping a good look out. 



Ver}/^ high wind is not, as a rule, conducive to 

 scent, but I have seen hounds run fast in such 

 wind, which, in addition to being strong, was 

 exceedingly cold. In December of this year (1919) 

 one of the fell packs ran a fox up-wind against an 

 icy gale on the tops, when the wind was so strong 

 that we who were following them had more than 

 once to lie down or be blown over the edge of the 

 feU. 



Rain, wind, and sun are responsible for the state 

 of the ground, and exert their influence on scent. 

 Too much rain is bad for scent, as the land gets 

 waterlogged. Koughly speaking, scent appears to 

 lie best when the ground is in good riding con- 

 dition. Wind and sun dry out the ground and 

 harden it, and frost does likewise. Hounds wiU 

 always run better when it is hard with drought 

 or frost than when it is very wet and holding. 

 Grass generally carries a better scent than plough, 

 though the latter in some districts appears very^ 

 favourable to it. 



