FOX AND HOUND. 91 



by it. The birds make a track in the air, only their 

 enemies hunt by sight rather than by scent. The fox 

 baffles the hound most upon a hard crust of frozen 

 snow ; the scent will not hold to the smooth, bead-like 

 granules. 



Judged by the eye alone, the fox is the lightest and 

 most buoyant creature that runs. His soft wrapping 

 of fur conceals the muscular play and effort that is so 

 obvious in the hound that pursues him, and he comes 

 bounding along precisely as if blown by a gentle wind. 

 His massive tail is carried as if it floated upon the air 

 by its own lightness. 



The hound is not remarkable for his fleetness, but 

 how he will hang ! — often running late into the night 

 and sometimes till morning, from ridge to ridge, from 

 peak to peak ; now on the mountain, now crossing the 

 valley, now playing about a large slope of uplying 

 pasture fields. At times the fox has a pretty well- 

 defined orbit, and the hunter knows where to intercept 

 him. Again he leads off like a comet, quite beyond 

 the system of hills and ridges upon which he was 

 started, and his return is entirely a matter of conjec- 

 ture ; but if the day be not more than half spent, the 

 chances are that the fox will be back before night, 

 though the sportsman's patience seldom holds out that 

 long. 



The hound is a most interesting dog. How solemn 

 and long-visaged he is — how peaceful and well-dis- 

 posed ! He is the Quaker among dogs. All the vi- 

 ciousness and currishness seem to have been weeded 

 out of him ; he seldom quarrels, or fights, or plays, 

 like other dogs. Two strange hounds, meeting for 

 the first time, behave as civilly toward each other as 

 two men. I know a hound that has an ancient, wrin- 



