HOUNDS. 347 



hounds or buck-hounds. They are merely large rough grey- 

 hounds which were formerly employed in Scotland for 

 coursing red deer; a brace of them being slipped, as in 

 coursing hare. When I was in Kimberley, South Africa, in 

 1892, that good sportsman, Mr. Fenn, was Master of a pack 

 which used to collectively course steinbok (Antilope tragulus) 

 over the veldt, and which were followed on horse-back. 



As a tendency to riot makes hounds almost worthless, 

 they should be kept strictly to their respective quarries. 

 Hares and deer of all kinds, but not badgers, are riot to fox- 

 hounds. Hares, roe and fallow deer are riot to stag-hounds. 

 Rabbits are the chief riot of harriers. 



In that good book, Unasked Advice, " Impecuniosus " justly 

 remarks that there is " a great deal of nonsense talked about 

 fast and slow hounds. I am no friend of the old Towlers, but 

 surely almost all hounds of the present day are well bred 

 enough to go, with a good scent, fast enough for any horse. 

 It is the keeping on going that stops the horses. Bluecap and 

 Wanton would be no farther from the horses than the slowest 

 old blue mottles, if they had over-run the scent and were cast- 

 ing about to recover it. It is going steadily on that reaches 

 a given point in quick time not flying for five minutes, and 

 checking for ten." 



As a rule, fox-hound puppies should be whelped during the 

 first quarter, and certainly not later than the first half of the 

 year, so that they may have as much time as practicable for 

 their early development, which might be seriously checked by 

 the cold of winter. Autumn puppies are often undersized and 

 delicate. 



Puppies go to their walks when they are weaned, say, after 

 they are two months old, provided that the bleak weather of 

 January, February and March is over. They are usually 

 taken back to the kennels during the following March. 



Persons who walk puppies should be prepared, for the 



