248 HARE-HUNTING 



and a sixteen-inch beagle is much easier to find 

 than the smaller sort, but as they become more 

 perfect you should gradually be able to reduce 

 your standard. It is well to bear in mind the 

 old fable of the race between the hare and the 

 tortoise. A pack that go very fast up to the 

 moment when the hare first turns, and then have 

 a long check, lose more time than the little fellows 

 who hardly ever falter. The latter I compare 

 to the tortoise, and they will generally win the 

 race. The more perfect your pack is, the smaller 

 may be your standard. 



By a perfect pack I mean that there is neither 

 head nor tail, that every hound has a first-rate 

 nose, and not one has a fault in his work. Then 

 they must be built on the right lines — good backs 

 and loins, a middle-piece that allows free play 

 for heart and lungs, with a barrel that is a 

 guarantee of a strong constitution. Strength with- 

 out lumber and quality without lightness should 

 be your motto. Shoulders you must have, and 

 any that are deficient in that respect you had 

 better weed out at once. The bad-shouldered 

 may keep up for the first half-hour, but with a 

 good scent they will gradually drop behind after 



