The Stars of the West 319 



retain scent, of whatever animal has passed, to a 

 degree that is known nowhere else. A deer leaves an 

 aroma so heavy that, when recent, hounds dwell in 

 single file to enjoy it, and for hours afterwards they 

 can follow it without difl&culty. The fox can be run 

 after a lapse of time that would put him far ^^ out of 

 scent " on any other ground : and the hare never has 

 a chance of her life when once harriers are laid on. 

 The sheep and the ponies of the Moor leave as 

 fascinating a trail as any animal that comes under the 

 head of game. To discriminate between all these, 

 and to pursue only the legitimate quest, is of course 

 purely a matter of education. Yet the older hounds 

 never waver ; and ^tis wonderful how soon the juniors 

 take example, and hunt only their particular game. 

 Not only does the virgin surface of the soil catch up 

 the scent of the footfall; but the heather retains 

 memory of the passing body even if there has been 

 no actual touch. For a fox will always follow the 

 grass-carpeted sheep paths where he can. If hounds 

 are close at him, they drive him forward. If he has 

 leisure to stop and listen, he may likely enough branch 

 off as the wind or his cunning instinct prompts him. 

 But the neighbouring heather would seem always to 

 tell a tale. A deer naturally makes nothing of the 

 high- spreading growth, but plunges through it where 

 even the great staghounds can scarcely make their 

 way. A fox cannot act at all in the tall stuff, but is 

 bound to seek the paths : though, with a pack just 

 behind him, he will hold his own well enough over 

 heather of medium age. Mr. Snow^s own deer park, 

 an unfenced waste of four hundred acres on which 



