OTTER-HUNTING 273 



will have made him slow, and he will soon find 

 that at this new game he will be as good as the 

 young, whereas of late in the other sport he had 

 been obliged to take a back seat. 



There is no more sensible animal than the fox- 

 hound — he loves every kind of sport, and will 

 quickly adapt himself to altered circumstances. 

 He takes readily to the water, and when once 

 entered to the otter he can generally be depended 

 on not to throw his tongue on the scent of a rat 

 or waterhen. If he happens to cross the line of 

 his old enemy the fox, he sometimes forgets 

 himself, and there is always this danger to be 

 thought of when an otter going from one stream 

 to another enters a wood or covert. There are 

 few packs that have not a strain of foxhound 

 blood, and most masters like to have at least two 

 or three couple to mix with the others. 



The pure-bred otter-hound is generally of a tan 

 colour, varying from light to dark, and occasion- 

 ally showing patches of white, but when this occurs 

 I think it is evidence of a cross at some period. 

 He has a rough wiry coat, and the harder the 

 texture of his hair, the better he will be able to 

 withstand the effects of being continually in the 



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