BREEDING AND HUNTING OF FOXHOUNDS. S3 



neglected. Their eagerness to receive the dead fox 

 should be sedulously aroused, and if some of them 

 snatched at the fox, and tried to take it from be- 

 neath the foot of the huntsman while the whips 

 were padding and cutting off the brush, those 

 hounds should not receive the ivhip severely ^ and 

 particularly not he Jdchecl ivith the footj as I regret 

 to say I have sometimes seen done while out with 

 i^acks other than my own. To strike or kick a 

 hound severely for being eager to get his fox is 

 utterly wrong: the whip and voice should only 

 threaten ; a tap or two is of just as much effect as 

 a heavy blow, and while revelling in the triumph of 

 blood not a symptom of harshness to a hound should 

 ever be manifested. The plan I recommend to bo 

 pursued on such occasions is as follows. 



Wlien the huntsman has possession of the fox, 

 let him take the fox to a large tree, or to a fence 

 of any kind, and, setting his foot on the fox, set his 

 own back against the fence or tree. He will then get 

 all his hounds in front of him, and there will be 

 no snatching at the fox from the rear, and less 

 need of the threatening whip. AVhen the fox has 

 been brushed and padded, then let the huntsman 

 j)ick him up by the neck and shake him eagerly 



G 



9! 



