FRANCE 115 



As regards foxhunting, I have already mentioned the single 



successful pack in France, that which meets at Pau. 



^ Fox. 



English custom prevails there, and whoever has a 



mount is at liberty to follow hounds. 



This is, however, by no means the case with the majority of 



packs round Paris or in the provinces that have other quarry. 



Before taking part in the hunt it is necessarv^ to be 



"" ^ . ; Stag, 



presented to the master and received by him ; and 



strangers, who have no one to introduce them, usually present them- 

 selves to the master direct, and are then generally allowed to follow 

 the hounds. 



The most popular hunts are those of staghounds in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Paris, at Chantilly, Villers Cottrets, Rambouillet, Com- 

 piegne, and Fontainebleau. The field is generally very large, and 

 there are numerous trains that leave Paris in the morning and 

 return in the evening. These packs usually hunt the stag and 

 wild boar. There is not a single department without one or two 

 packs of hounds, nearly all of which are a cross between the fox- 

 hound and our older French breeds. A few even consist of pure 

 foxhounds only. 



And here I must digress in order to give some account of a 

 quite unique pack, composed entirely of hounds of the pure old 

 French race, and preserved with jealous care by its owners for very 

 many years. This pack, which hunts the roebuck in the department 

 of the Landes, is the property of Baron de Carayon La Tour. It 

 is known as the Virelade pack, and the breed of dogs goes by the 

 same name. 



