312 FACT AGAINST FICTION. 



successively, as the scent tliat pertains to tliem 

 exists. All are infinitely stronger in scents to 

 serve hounds tlian the fox. Yet to man's nose 

 the fox seems to be the stronger '^ smell," that of 

 the red deer the next, and as to the otter, none 

 at all ! 



Then comes the fact of the '' drag" for hounds. 

 A red-herring, or the anise-seeded skirt of an old 

 coat, will induce them for a certain period, only 

 they soon get tired of it, to run as if they gloried 

 in the chase of a ^^ smell" they had never known 

 before. But on this they Avill veri/ soon become very 

 slack as well as very uncertain. In short, a hound 

 used to the ^^drag" will soon become an egregious 

 liar, and at a check '' speak" to any unusual track 

 he may come across. 



The most beautiful things in nature may be tra- 

 vestied and rendered marvellously ridiculous : all 

 our sports are becoming so. Pigeon-shooting and 

 the tossing up balls or toys for shooting at are fast 

 taking the place of Avild sport with game and dog, 

 and now we tramp with a company of men in line, 

 flag-bearers sent out to do what is never done, and 

 turnips suffer Avhilc 23artridges get away. 



I have seen my hounds when running a stag 



