FOXES FOXHOUNDS & FOX-HUNTING 



" on its own." On the fells however, this not 

 infrequently occurs, and every season finds one 

 or more individual hounds famous for having 

 hunted and killed a fox single-handed. It some- 

 times happens that a hound which will run a fox 

 with the best, refuses to roll his quarry over when 

 he overhauls it. During the early part of the 

 present season (1921), two of the Ullswater bitches 

 led throughout a very fast run in the neighbour- 

 hood of Howtown, overtaking their fox and hold- 

 ing him there until the rest of the pack gave him 

 his quietus. 



Hounds which mark well are most valuable in 

 fell hunting. Should hounds distance their 

 field and run a fox to ground, the music of a few 

 staunch markers lets the huntsman know in 

 which direction to go. When following a fox 

 amongst the ledges on the crags, hounds run the 

 risk of slipping and meeting death on the rocks 

 far below. Hardly a season passes without a 

 contretemps of this nature, but considering the 

 dangerous character of the country, fatal accidents 

 are remarkably few. Twenty-two and a half 

 inches is about the most useful height for a fell 

 hound. Small, compact hounds can jump 

 the big stone walls and get about the crags more 

 easily and quickly than the heavier t3rpe, and 

 they wear better and last longer. Harking 

 back for a moment to hounds' feet, the fell hounds 

 have the dew-claw properly developed, and it 

 is an aid in climbing as well as descending steep 

 places. The hare foot and long pastern are 

 equally useful in both respects, as they enable 

 a hound to get a better grip than the contracted 

 foot and the short, upright pastern, more par- 

 ticularly when scrambling up steep ledges, or 

 jumping to the tops of the high stone walls. The 



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