SCENT 



The amount of scent emanating from a fox 

 appears to vary with individuals. Ivikewise 

 the behaviour of the fox has a good deal to do 

 with the quality of the scent. One that runs 

 straight is nearly always easier to hunt than a 

 short-running, twisting customer. There are 

 two kinds of scent, i.e., the body-scent and the 

 foot-scent. The former is held in suspension 

 in the atmosphere, and when at the right height — 

 " breast high" — hounds can scream after their 

 fox. Foot-scent lies on, or very close to the 

 ground, and hounds have to work it out slowly, 

 as when they are on a cold drag. When scent is 

 " breast high" on a windy day, hounds often 

 run far wide of the actual line, because the scent 

 drifts with the wind. In the case of foot-scent, 

 this does not happen, and such scent leads hounds 

 to the exact spot where a fox has jumped a wall, 

 or crept through a smoot. 



Human beings have a far greater capacity for 

 recognising various scents than is generally 

 supposed. Persons who are both blind and deaf 

 sometimes know their friends by their smell, and 

 even go so far as to base their likes and dislikes 

 on the smell of individuals. 



Probably the greater portion of the scent 

 given off by the body of the fox, comes from the 

 scent glands at the root of the brush. Scent 

 appears to be closely connected with the fox's 

 nervous system, while the speed at which he 

 travels also affects its strength. A fox lying 

 close in covert gives off little or no scent at all 

 whereas a fox that has got warm with running, 

 leaves considerable scent behind him. I think 

 the nervous system is chiefly responsible for the 

 loss of scent when a fox receives a sudden fright, 

 as when he is coursed by a cur dog. No doubt 



83 



