HARES, AM) IIAkE-lIiWriXG. 191 



Entangling mix. As fuming vapours rise, 



And hang upcin the gently-purling hrocik. 



There by th' ineumbcnt atmosphere comprcss'd, 



The panting chase grows warmer as he Hies, 



And thro' the network of the skin perspires, 



Leaves a long-streaming trail behind, which by 



The cooler air condens'd, remains, unless 



By some rude storm dispers'd, or rarify'd 



By the meridian sun's intenser heat. 



To ev'ry shrub the warm effluvia cling. 



Hang on the grass, impregnate earth and skies. 



With nostrils op'ning wide, o'er hill, o'er dale. 



The vig'rous hounds pursue, with ev'ry breath 



Inhale the grateful steam, quick pleasures sting 



Their tingling nerves, while they their thanks repay. 



And in triumphant melody confess 



The titillating joy. Sumcrvilc. 



Naturalists tell us that the scent comes from the anal glands and the 

 skin. The subtle essence, which is inappreciable to the human nostril, clings 

 to the grass and ground pressed by the passing animal, and also to the tufts 

 and bushes brushed by the fur. The aroma lasts for a considerable time, 

 and rises more or less according to the state of the atmosphere ; when high, 

 hounds are said to run witli the scent "breast high'"; and when low, with 

 " their noses down." 



Generally speaking, scent may be said to depend on the condition of 

 the ground, and the temperature of the air, but this is taking no account of 

 possible differences in the individual animal. AVe cannot but suppose that 

 different hares possess different degrees of perfume. Indeed, we have all 

 noticed tliat on occasions when we have had two or three runs on the same 

 day, under, to our ill-inibrmed senses, precisely the same conditions, the 

 scent has been better in one run than in another ; also, with the same hare, 

 scent has seemed to fail or improve in a quite unaccountable manner. We 

 have a right to expect scent to be good on a warm moist day, in a fog if 

 unaccompanied by hoar frost, in a thaw alter a long hard frost, and on snow 

 when it has been lying for some days. We may expect it to be bad in hard 

 frost, in storms, in dry east winds, and in bright sunshine. The ground over 

 which the animal has travelled varies considerably in its power of holding 

 scent. Good stretches of grass land, especially old pastures, seem to be the 

 best; heather and turnips fields are very good, but ploughed lands and roads 

 retain the scent only under the most favourable circumstances. 



A few extracts from the Sport Books will show that the experiences of 

 the R.R.B. in their early days were very much the same as we find them 

 now, nearly fifty years later. 



December 3rd, 1846, Beeston. Hard frost. Although the frost was very 

 severe, they killed two hares after good runs, and would have killed a third, but 

 were stopped by darkuess coiuiug ou. 



