FOXHOUNDS 219 



as a matter of fact, they are being gradually demoral- 

 ised, because no real opportunity of hunting out the 

 line has been afforded them. Proof of this can easily 

 be procured, for the sceptic need only take note of what 

 occurs after a popular meet of one of the Shire packs on 

 a really bad scenting day, and then go and hunt for a 

 week or two in a provincial country where fields are 

 always small, but where hounds are invariably allowed 

 room to work in. 



Apropos, we remember some years ago during a good 

 season in ante-mange times that a small party went 

 from the provincial country where we were hunting to 

 Melton for ten days. They were men of some expe- 

 rience, and each of the trio had paid more than one 

 previous visit to Leicestershire. This time, however, 

 they returned with a sad story. They had each been 

 out about half a dozen times, had seen three of the 

 Shire packs, but had never come in for a gallop of 

 more than a few minutes' duration. They had, as it 

 happened, hit upon a period of poor scent, and hounds 

 had been badly over-ridden, with the result that sport 

 had been practically nil. But the curious part of it was 

 that the local pack they had left behind them had had 

 during the same period their big week of the season, 

 when scent, though not exactly brilliant, had been good 

 enough to allow of hounds running on all day long. 



To sum up the question of nose, bad foxes make (or 

 appear to make) bad hounds, and constant over-riding 

 is answerable for a great deal of exceedingly moderate 

 sport, for which hounds are often, in some degree, 

 blamed. 



