132 A HUNTING CATECHISM 



reared. These, of course, do not get to know the 

 country till they are a couple of years old, if 

 indeed they are lucky enough to live so long, for 

 the life of a cub deprived of the guidance of 

 its parents must be very precarious, what with 

 keepers and other mischances, besides its own 

 legitimate foes, a pack of foxhounds." 



It may help to reconcile these two opinions 

 by considering the respective countries in which 

 each hunts, the one where very small fields are 

 the rule, while game preserving is by no means 

 overdone, and every one almost welcomes a fox ; 

 while in the other country game preserving on 

 a large scale is rife, and the fields that come out 

 hunting are enormous. The governing conditions 

 in the two countries are therefore considerably 

 different. 



As to the pace some foxhounds possess, I was 

 once witness of an extraordinary performance by 

 a young hound in the Bedale pack. We were 

 drawing Hutton Moor, not far from Ripon, when 

 a fox jumped up in view, and Singer raced out 

 from the rest of the pack, caught the fox after 

 one or two turns, and killed it. Very shortly 

 after, another fox was roused not far from the 

 high ragged fence skirting the moor, and through 

 this hedge the fox quickly slipped. Again Singer 

 raced after it, and though it had got a long start 

 the enclosure adjoining happened to be a very 

 large grass-field, and before the fox could reach 

 the further hedge Singer rolled it over, and 

 killed it also. Later in the day we had about an 

 hour's run, when in crossing a park the fox was 

 viewed, and again leaving the pack well behind 

 Singer shot out, and killed his third fox that day. 

 Almost as remarkable as his speed was the young 



