Scent 215 



for by the fact that the particles of effluvia left behind by 

 the fox, if they settle, have not so much to cling to. The 

 " working," as the farmers call it, of a newly ploughed 

 field may cause chemical action there that absorbs or dis- 

 pels scent, and yet again such land sometimes carries the 

 scent beautifully, even across a dusty highway. Others 

 believe a sandy soil absorbs scent, but I have little faith in 

 this theory. The scent more likely goes the other way, 

 on heat waves caused by rapid radiation, for if absorbed by 

 sandy or porous soil the particles would adhere to the soil, 

 and make the line, if anything, plainer than it is on a hard 

 clay, in which as a matter of fact scent is generally better. 

 Clay ground is believed to hold a scent longer than sand 

 or loam, and probably does, because evaporation is less than 

 on sand. But enough of this : I meant only to advance a 

 few theories to set one thinking upon this ever-interesting 

 topic. 



Still another peculiarity of scent is the hounds' extraor- 

 dinary fondness for it. Disagreeable as the odour is to 

 man, hounds seem ever more keen to follow a fox's line 

 than to break the fox himself. The huntsman has gen- 

 erally little trouble to secure a fox from the hounds after 

 they have killed him ; at least, hounds never seem so eager 

 to make away with him as one would expect from the 

 greediness with which they pursued his line. Judging 

 from their actions in covert, the first nostrilful of the 

 scent fairly intoxicates them. Their sterns lash, and each 

 particular hair on their backs stands on end. They raise 

 their heads and throw their tongues with a clamourous yell 

 of delight that fairly sets them back on their haunches. If 



