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soon as hounds cease to go fast, losing the fox instead 

 of killing him becomes merely a matter of time. Mind, 

 I do not say as soon as hounds have to put their heads 

 down, which is the form in which detractors of the " cut 

 'em down " countries couch their attacks ; for I believe 

 herein Hes part at least of the explanation. My idea is, 

 that so long as grass retains a scent at all, hounds can 

 move quick over it, and improve it as they go along ; in 

 other words, that when they can run at all they can run 

 fast, and that when there is such a failure of scent as 

 to cripple them, they would not be able to own it at all on 

 the plough. The Midlands are by no means uninterrupted 

 grass, so one has frequent opportunity of observing 

 that when hounds seem to be carrying a fair head over 

 the turf, a fallow or two stops them at once. Another 

 thing is, that foxes take a great deal more killing here 

 than they do elsewhere ; they are of a stouter breed 

 (most districts having at sometime or other been stocked 

 with bold Highlanders), and from the distance apart, 

 and the small extent of the covers, they travel 

 more, and are always fit to go before hounds ; so 

 if they once get ahead and able to take their own time, 

 they are by no means easily overhauled. The real way 

 to kill foxes in the Shires is to get away close at them, 

 and burst them at starting. The scent is then hot and 

 firm, the hounds are not over-ridden by the field, the 

 foxes have no time to twist or run cunning, and, be it 

 a good scenting day or a bad one, there is more chance 

 of accounting for them than by trusting to slow hunting. 

 But in order to do this, a huntsman must have his pack 

 under perfect command, and it is absolutely essential 

 that he should be effectively whipped up to. To this 

 talent of getting his hounds quickly to him does Gillard 

 owe his success, and through it has he so often been able 



