ODDS AND ENDS. 121 



hounds, which required catching, and I often 

 wonder if they are as good now. But 'tis many a 

 year since in one's boyhood we viewed one away 

 in those very, very happy hunting grounds, 

 when the present master Lord Huntingdon was 

 still a lad. 



In many places the foxes of the present day 

 are, I fear, very degenerated specimens of their 

 race; there is something artificial about them; 

 they do not seem to be able to go the pace and 

 the distance of their wild progenitors, and their 

 knowledpfe of countrv is also deficient. For a 

 fox to make a ten or twelve mile point is now 

 the exception, and the number of such runs 

 in the season could, I expect, in most countries 

 be counted on the fingers of one hand ; whereas 

 formerly they were of frequent occurrence, at 

 any rate, in wild hunting countries not over- 

 burdened with large woodlands. And one asks, 

 '' Why is this ? " There are many causes, but 

 I think we ourselves are mainly responsible 

 for the inferior breed. Take the present 

 system of cubhunting, for instance. In most 

 countries hounds are taken to some covert 

 (the smaller the better) where there is known 

 to be a litter of cubs, with the object of 



