84 UNASKED ADVICE. 



it made them, more fierce in pursuit ; but a hunted hare 

 is usually considered too valuable an article to be so 

 treated. If eacli and every hound in the pack knows 

 that the object of pursuit has been caught and killed by 

 them^ they are cheerful enough without absolutely de- 

 vouring the fallen foe. Staghounds rarely get blood, 

 yet they are fond enough of their pursuit, and they will 

 kill the deer if they can ; but they are quite satisfied to 

 see him produced, as he usually is at the end of the run, 

 with a rope round his neck and an official on each side of 

 him. Staghounds are but foxhounds, after all. They 

 are more highly trained in one way, as they are taught to 

 stop, which foxhounds are not. That the latter could be 

 taught to do so there is no donbt, but their dash and 

 '^ drive " would suffer, and the fox would benefit. Stag- 

 hounds may go a dusting pace, and get along quicker 

 with their stag than foxhounds with their fox, and yet be 

 totally wanting in the dash and continual perseverance in 

 driving the scent forward, which is the characteristic of 

 the foxhound. Their work is much easier, they have no 

 drawing for their game, the scent is almost invariably 

 good, and they know that coming up with the unantlered 

 monarch sooner or later is almost a certainty. If the stag 

 ran them out of scent three times out of four, the hounds 

 after the first burst would be as disinclined to puzzle on 

 as a pack of fox or hare hounds who are habitually 

 beaten by their game. They don^t care so much about 

 eating him, but like to know that he is theirs. Otter 

 hounds do not eat their prey, but they like to kill him, 

 and there is no scent which hounds enjoy more than his. 

 Riotous hounds, by the way, will usually eat a hare or 

 rabbit ; but they are pot-hunters. 



How little foxhounds care for eating a fox is patent to 



