Scent. 103 



Mr. W. S. Walker, of Kentucky. The latter I 

 consider an authority upon any subject connected 

 with fox-hunting. 



The fact that foxes have individual odors is 

 well known to all hunters; also the fact that an 

 old hound will not leave the line of a fox he is 

 running for another crossing the same that may 

 be both fresher and stronger, but this does not 

 apply to young hounds. 



Who is there of us who has had experience 

 in the West that can not recall the confidence and 

 affection we had in our favorite hunting horse, 

 who, time and again, saved us a night out on the 

 plains, "lying upon our backs and covered with 

 our bellies," by displaying his homing ability and 

 going as straight to camp as the needle to the 

 pole; that, too, when it was so dark one could 

 hardly see enough to think? 



This ability of horses to follow a trail, and 

 not necessarily a back trail, is well known, espe- 

 cially to any one who has spent much time on the 

 illimitable plains of the West. This trailing in- 

 stinct in the horse is entirely different from the 

 •'homing" instinct possessed in a greater or lesser 

 degree by all horses, and from which upon sev- 

 eral occasions I have been a sufferer. In horse 

 ''homing" there are many aids other than the 

 power of scent, but in trailing other horses across 

 rough and rugged country they have scent alone 

 to guide them. 



