62 THOUGHTS ON HUNTING 



the air only : it depends also on the soil. Without doubt, the best scent is 

 that which is occasioned by the effluvia, as he calls it or particles of scent, 

 which are constantly perspiring from the game as it runs, and are strongest 

 and most favourable to the hound, when kept by the gravity of the air to 

 the height of his breast ; for then it neither is above his reach, nor is it neces- 

 sary that he should stoop for it. At such times, scent is said to lie breast- 

 high. Experience tells us, that difference of soil occasions difference of 

 scent ; and on the richness and moderate moisture of the soil does it also 

 depend, I think, as well as on the air. At the time when leaves begin to fall, 

 and before they are rotted, we know that the scent lies ill in cover. This 

 alone would be a sufficient proof that scent does not depend on the air only. 

 A difference of scent is also occasioned by difference of motion : the faster 

 the game goes, the less scent it leaves. When game has been ridden after, 

 and hurried on by imprudent sportsmen, the scent is less favourable to 

 hounds : one reason of which may be, that the particles of scent are then 

 more dissipated : but if the game should have been run by a dog not belonging 

 to the pack, seldom will any scent remain. 



I believe it is very difficult to ascertain exactly what scent is : I have 

 known it alter very often in the same day. I believe, however, that it 

 depends chiefly on two things ' the condition the ground is in, and the 

 temperature of the air ' ; both of which, I apprehend, should be moist, with- 

 out being wet. When both are in this condition, the scent is then perfect ; 

 and vice versa, when the ground is hard and the air dry, there seldom will be 

 any scent. It scarcely ever lies with a north, or an east wind : a southerly 

 wind without rain, and a westerly wind that is not rough, are the most 

 favourable. Storms in the air are great enemies to scent, and seldom fail 

 to take it entirely away. A fine sunshiny day is not often a good hunting 

 day ; but what the French call jours des dames, warm without sun, is gener- 

 ally a perfect one : there are not many such in a whole season. In some fogs, 

 I have known the scent lie high ; in others, not at all ; depending, I believe, 

 on the quarter the wind is then in. I have known it lie very high in a mist, 

 when not too wet ; but if the r wet should hang on the boughs and bushes, 

 it will fall upon the scent, and deaden it. When the dogs roll, the scent, I 

 have frequently observed, seldom lies ; for what reason, I know not : but, 

 with permission, if they smell strong when they first come out of the kennel, 

 the proverb is in their favour ; and that smell is a prognostic of good luck. 

 When cobwebs hang on the bushes, there is seldom much scent. During 

 a white frost the scent lies high ; as it also does when the frost is quite gone. 

 At the time of its going off, scent never lies : it is a critical minute for hounds, 

 in which their game is frequently lost. In a great dew, the scent is the 

 same. In heathy countries, where the game brushes as it goes along, scent 

 seldom fails. Where the ground carries, the scent is bad, for a very evident 

 reason, which hare-hunters, who pursue their game over greasy fallows and 



