I 1 6 SCENT AND TRAILS. 



hour after a stalking party has passed by, they will not eas- 

 ily cross the tracks on account of the scent still hanging to 

 them. " * There can be no doubt that the taint attached to 

 the trail, by the mere fact of a man or an animal passing 

 over the ground, will cling to it for a considerable 

 time afterwards. Our own noses for instance, can quite 

 clearly detect the aroma emitted by a passing fox in 

 a wood, long after he has gone out of sight. Personally 

 we are inclined to think that scent carries further on 

 breezy plains than in the forest, because the air there is not 

 so stagnant as among the trees ; but on the other hand, 

 we are pretty confident that the taint which clings to- 

 the trail of a passing creature hangs longer to it in 

 the forest than on the plain, for identical reasons. But 

 as we have said, nothing of a precise nature is known 

 about these things. What is generally believed is that 

 there are days when, as huntsmen say, scent will lie 

 well, and there are days when it lies badly. Huntsmen 

 with hounds, and sportsmen who use dogs much after 

 grouse, partridge, etc., will we think, generally admit 

 that this is so. 



There are also other curious facts in natural history, 

 connected with scent, which are quite worth while 

 recording here, and which show very clearly that the 

 natural laws which govern the power of the nose among 

 keen-scented animals, are liable to mysterious modi* 

 fications, which quite surpass the bounds of man's under- 

 standing to account for; and illustrate in the most 

 striking manner the wonderful capacity of nature in 

 adapting circumstances to necessity, and in shielding 

 the helpless and the weak among the animal creation 

 from the power of evil. 



* Deer- Stalking, by Augustus Grimble, 1886, p. 25. 



