PACE 



There is I think little doubt that the stamina of 

 the fox to-day — at any rate in the Midlands — is 

 less than that of his predecessors. This may be 

 accounted for by the fact that there are now many 

 more foxes than there used to be, and in conse- 

 quence each individual fox has a smaller beat and 

 knows less country. Food is likewise easier to 

 obtain, and a fox has not to travel so far to get it, 

 so the exercise he gets does not keep him in such 

 hard condition as was the case in the old days when 

 he and his kind were few and far between, and 

 the country was more or less unenclosed. 



We still hear of long runs, but as a rule more 

 than one fox acts as pilot, for with foxes thick 

 on the ground, and coverts planted at short in- 

 tervals, changes are frequent. The modern 

 quick tactics necessary in the Shires, where hounds 

 are apt to be over-ridden, make for short bursts. 

 In the old days, hounds usually killed the fox 

 they started with, for the supply of foxes was a 

 meagre one. Hounds too could use their noses 

 better than their present-day representatives of 

 fashionable type. They were bred for work, 

 with no thought of show, and when hounds were 

 bought and sold, they fetched prices more com- 

 mensurate with their ability in the field than is 

 the case to-day. 



In an ordinary enclosed country, where hounds 

 are ridden to, a fall of snow may temporarily 

 stop hunting. On the fells, where hounds are 

 followed on foot, snow, if it is not too deep, seldom 

 interferes with sport. In soft snow — which often 

 carries a good scent, particularly when it is damp 

 — hounds, owing to their greater length of leg, 

 can travel faster and more easily than the fox. 

 Thus it often happens that a fox, which under 

 ordinary conditions would go right out to the 



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