NOSE AND TONGUE 



greater importance than the quantity if hounds 

 are to be kept really fit. The diet of individual 

 hounds of course requires regulating, and in the 

 case of hounds which have passed say their 

 fifth year, they should be fed lighter, and with 

 non-fat-producing material, because at that age 

 they put on fat internally rather than externally. 

 This internal fat chokes their pipes and prevents 

 them running up in a fast burst, although it may 

 not affect their endurance to a like degree. By 

 feeding an old hound lightly, his years of useful- 

 ness may generally be prolonged, and this of 

 course means that his intelligence and experience 

 are an enormous asset to the pack in the field. 

 Whilst on the subject of tongue and nose, we are 

 reminded of a yarn concerning the old Hurworth 

 huntsman who had very bowed legs. On one 

 occasion he was photographed, and when the 

 shutter had clicked, the operator remarked, 

 " Well, we've got you inside the camera, Tom, 

 but we can't make you straight." To which 

 that worthy replied, " The year I was whelped, 

 they thought more about tongue and nose." 

 It is safe to say that the modern fox-hound of 

 fashionable type, compares none too well as 

 regards nose with his ancestors or with other 

 present day hounds of different type. 



Whilst modern breeders have concentrated all 

 their efiorts upon producing a hound perfect in 

 conformation, they have apparently in many 

 instances overlooked those very necessary 

 qualities tongue and nose. Stamina too has 

 suffered, else why are so many hounds required to 

 keep the fashionable packs up to strength ? It 

 is doubtful if hounds now do more — or even as 

 much — work in a day as they did in years gone 

 by when the country was unenclosed, and much 



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