120 A HUNTING CATECHISM 



of hounds closely confined in kennels, except 

 when at exercise under careful supervision. A 

 young dog of any breed who can at once 

 successfully eclipse his practised comrade on a 

 weak scent is as rarely found as an infant prodigy ! 



Tales that have come down from our grand- 

 fathers of marvels that bloodhounds have shown, 

 and that have usually been looked upon as having 

 grown with the efflux of time, do not now seem so 

 incredible when judged by some of the perform- 

 ances of bloodhounds, tested with " the clean 

 boot," at recent trials. 



If foxhounds possess the same olfactory powers 

 the wonder is that a fox should ever be lost ! 

 Certainly some of the hounds hunting rough 

 moorland countries, where hounds are necessarily 

 very frequently left entirely to themselves, and 

 are often trencher-fed, develop a keenness of 

 nose and a gift of tongue not always to be found 

 in the more fashionable packs. That a late Duke 

 of Grafton thoroughly believed this he showed 

 in a practical way when, in 1862, he purchased 

 from the late Mr. John Hill the pack with 

 which he had hunted the moorland country 

 between Thornton dale and Scarborough. 



It is a common belief that the very broad 

 muzzle and nostrils of the bloodhound are the 

 cause of its low-scenting powers, and to a certain 

 extent this is very likely right ; but it must not 

 be overlooked that animals with very pointed 

 muzzles, — witness the fox, for instance — often 

 are gifted with very keen scent, and therefore 

 the breadth of muzzle has probably very little 

 to do with it. Points that were frequently 

 pressed upon me in my boyhood by a famous 

 breaker of pointers and setters, William Thursby, 



