98 MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS. 



say, that in his younger days he never kept a horse 

 which was not quite thorough bred and had been trained 

 as a race horse ; but he had more than assertion to prove 

 this in the shape of about twenty cups and plates which 

 had been won by his own hunters. 



It is the custom with many huntsmen to take out a 



large body of hounds into woodlands at the beginning of 



the season ; there is no objection to this when foxes are 



plentiful and you do not wish to break away. They 



may be chopping and changing nearly the whole day, 



sometimes the body of hounds holding to one fox, but 



more often split into several lots, each pursuing their 



own game, until hounds and foxes are nearly all beaten 



together. A good long woodland day, with blood at 



the end, is of great service to young hounds, as it shows 



you what they are made of, and hounds that are not 



afraid of scratching their faces in the covert will seldom 



disappoint your expectations when they run over the 



open. When, however, the regular season commences, 



I would not exceed twenty couples even in the largest 



woodlands. They are more likely to hold together than 



a larger body of hounds, and when foxes run their foil, 



which they will often do, the ground is less tainted, and 



even should they divide, eight or ten coupler of good 



hounds are quite enough to kill the best fox that ever 



wore a brush. I have known on more occasions than 



one my pack divide, and each kill their own fox. I had 



also three hounds which once broke away after one fox, 



whilst the pack were running another, and without any 



assistance or an individual with them, they ran their fox 



through several large woods, a distance of ten miles, and 



killed him by themselves. This would disprove the 



