BREEDING AKD HUNTING OI' FOXHOUNDS. 97 



under tlicir noses, impresses on the young hounds a 

 knowledge of the scent they are designed for than 

 much running, when the old hounds cut out all the 

 work. The death of a fox, after workj is as mucli 

 needful to old and young hounds as a feed of corn 

 is to a hunter, and more so, because in one instance, 

 that of tlie horse, the mere craving of the stomach 

 demands the corn, while the breaking up of a fox 

 rewards the persevering and resolute brain, the 

 bristling fury and the thirst for death in the heart 

 of the hound, which crowns his exertion and his 

 natural instinct. 



A Imntsman ought always to compass the death 

 of his fox (after work) by all the means in his 

 power ; and it is better not to hunt a country at all, 

 if the foxes are so few that there are times when 

 one cannot be spared. There is no advantage 

 short of a gun that a huntsman may not take to 

 obtain his deserved fox. In. an instance that hap- 

 pened to myself in my first season in Bedfordshire, 

 when I was nearly overwhelmed by my large 

 number of young hounds, the fox really died by 

 my own hand. We had run different foxes for 

 hours in the heavy woodlands, till the ground was 

 in a state of ^' foil,'' the pack contused and 



VOL. I. H 



