THE UPLAND 



does in riding over the big, stiff fences of Delaware County. He contends, 

 to use his own words, that "any cur can run a breast-high scent" and 

 likes nothing better than to hear his tender-nosed hounds throw their deep 

 voices on the line of a fox, perhaps six or eight hours old, which " makes 

 the shivers run up and down your back." Hounds go out early in the 

 morning, work about the open country and woodlands till they hit an over- 

 night drag, go on with it at a varying pace, and, — to give the devil his due, 

 — usually run their quarry in at the end of a long day's hunting. That this 

 is very pretty work, no one who has seen it will question, and many are 

 inclined to agree that, if this method is employed, Mr. Crozer is right in con- 

 tending that " an American hound with a heavy tongue will settle down 

 and hunt an overnight drag better than the English or half-bred English type. 

 The slow work of a good hound (American) I find very attractive." 



This may be so, but Mr. Crozer is the first American hound-man whom 

 we have heard admit that the work of fiis hounds is slow. He says that 

 " any cur can run a breast-high scent." If by that, Mr. Crozer means that 

 the American hound is the only hound that can hunt a cold line in the 

 manner admired by him, it might be suggested that many an English hound 

 is drafted for just this slow, line-hunting, dwelling method of procedure. 

 As has been said in the introductory chapter, "What is the use?" 



Crosses with English hounds have been tried, but have been found un- 

 satisfactory, and at present Mr. Crozer has in his kennels twenty couples of 

 typical American hounds, most of them descended from family hounds, though 

 some few have been obtained from Delaware and Maryland. Mr. Crozer 

 has had good luck with his puppies, and most of the pack are home-bred. 



Foxes are on the increase in the country and the hunting during the recent 

 seasons has been exceptionally good ; only two blank days having occurred 

 during the winter of 1 907. One of the most brilliant runs in the history of 

 the Hunt occurred during this season (1907) when hounds found a cold 

 line on the Master's own estate, worked it up, found their fox, and drove 

 him in a fifty-mile circle, putting him to ground within a quarter of a mile of 

 the kennels. The M. F. H. himself vouches for the authenticity of this run ; 

 certainly an excellent day's work, but it tends to prove, it would seem, that the 



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