Hunting in the last Century. 1 5 



woods of Hampshire somewhere about the close of the 

 last century. I began to hunt and to be observant of 

 such matters in 18 14, but I never witnessed nor heard 

 of a single instance of that animal being found by 

 hounds; whereas, in the preceding generation, this was 

 a frequent source of disappointment to sportsmen. 

 The steadiest foxhounds would run this scent, and on 

 such occasions they were generally supposed to have 

 found a fox, till they were heard baying round some 

 tree on which the creature had taken refuge. My 

 father, when a boy, had sometimes climbed the tree 

 for the purpose of shaking or beating it down. One 

 would have supposed that the fate of the little animal, 

 dropping down amongst twenty couples of expectant 

 dogs, must have been certain and immediate ; yet 

 Beckford declares that there are few instances of a 

 martin-cat being caught in such a situation — and he 

 must have had considerable experience of them, for 

 they were so plentiful in his country that he sometimes 

 entered his young hounds to them. My father's tes- 

 timony confirmed this assertion. He told me that 

 they usually escaped by creeping and turning quickly 

 under the beUies of the hounds. When found in a 

 thick furze-brake, free from trees, they would baffle 

 hounds for a long time, and occasionally beat them 

 by running in thick places where the hounds could 

 scarcely penetrate. 



