FOXES FOXHOUNDS & FOX-HUNTING 



organised in this country, on the lines of those 

 held in America, some of our hill-country hounds 

 would surprise the judges by their speed. 



The fastest runs generally occur when hounds 

 are piloted by a dog fox which is out of his own 

 country. On the hills, dog foxes often travel 

 considerable distances on their love-making ex- 

 peditions, and when hounds drop on to one of 

 these customers the ensuing hunt is apt to be 

 both fast and straight. The fox sets his mask 

 for his own domains, and goes there in a bee line. 



Elsewhere we have said that a fox has his own 

 particular beat, every foot of which he knows, 

 and his instinct is to turn back when he reaches 

 the boundary of that beat. The lure of a vixen 

 may tempt him beyond it, and I am inclined to 

 think that when he returns he follows the same 

 route which he took on the outward journey. 

 Once he has followed a certain line of country, he 

 never forgets it, and every detail of the way is 

 stored up in his memory. Aside from this how- 

 ever, the homing instinct appears to be strongly 

 developed in foxes, for there are many instances 

 on record of foxes imported from distant parts of 

 the country making their way back again across 

 wide areas on which they have never put foot 

 before. 



The longest runs usually take place when 

 scent is rather permanent than strong. The 

 longest hunt I ever personally took part in, began 

 at ten o'clock in the morning, and hounds were 

 still running after dark. This was in the I^ake 

 District, and it is possible that hounds changed 

 foxes, though I rather doubt it. It was never 

 very fast at any period, and there were a number 

 of checks, still hounds kept going on, their fox 

 being one of the " toddling " sort mentioned by 

 Goosey. 



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