FOX-HOUNDS 243 



quicker as a pack than dogs, but they do not 

 always show the most sport, or kill the most foxes. 

 They are apt to be flighty, and unless very strong, 

 with four- and five-year hunters, they will not kill 

 anything like so many as the dogs, and in a wood- 

 land country it is decidedly objectionable. They are 

 not so free with their tongues, and often sHp away 

 without any one knowing it ; on this account alone 

 it is desirable to have some dog hounds, which 

 will also assist in holding the Une for them. And if 

 a complaint is made that the dog hounds have not 

 quite dash enough, let a few flying bitches go with 

 the dogs, and it will improve both packs. 



The plan of spaying young bitches which are 

 light and weedy, answers beyond the belief of those 

 who have not tried it ; so much so, that although 

 when spayed they were too light to breed from, in 

 the course of a year or two they furnish so much as 

 to make it often a cause of regret that they cannot 

 be bred from ; but it ought not to cause regret, 

 as there is httle doubt that the improvement is 

 owing to the operation. It is well known that it 

 also improves the nose, and they often become 

 the best cold-hunters in the pack, although very 

 different before, and far better than the sisters 

 Avhich were not spayed ; besides which, they hunt 



