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cubs as it is supposed to be at Christmas. Backs may 

 be big and broad with no ribs showing, but there 

 should not be an ounce of fat. When you see hounds, 

 after about an hour's work in covert on a hot morning, 

 lie down panting in the rides, you may be quite sure 

 their huntsman has neglected to give them sufficient 

 exercise. The battle between hounds and foxes is 

 always decided in favour of the one that is fittest. 

 The fox is, however, at a disadvantage in hot weather, 

 having a much thicker coat than the hound, and very 

 soon becomes distressed, so that with equal fitness 

 and a moderately good nose, the hound should always 

 score. If a pack started cub-hunting in really hard 

 <jondition, they would have little difficulty in quickly 

 reducing a litter to the requisite number without 

 the mobbing and heading back. I admit that on a 

 hot, stuffy morning, the hounds, being closer to the 

 ground than we who are mounted on horses, find a 

 worse atmosphere for breathing, but foxes, being still 

 nearer to the ground, are faced with the same con- 

 ditions. The hound with an ordinary good constitu- 

 tion, in perfect health and free from worms, will get 

 big and lusty with work, provided that when he com- 

 mences himting he is thoroughly fit. If given the 

 choice of two packs, neither having undergone the 

 necessary preparation, I should unhesitatingly take 

 the half-starved one in preference to one loaded with 

 fat. The former might be too weak to do a long day, 

 but would be able to keep up the pace whilst their 

 strength lasted; whereas the other would be choked 

 in a few minutes. I recall a saying of Tom Firr's : 

 *' A fat hound, a fat horse, and a fat man are no 

 good to themselves or anyone else.'* 



The methods of cub-hunting must be left to the 



