20 NOTITIA VENATICA. 



01- knees may become sound after a summer's rest, and turn out a valu- 

 able acquisition, and an invalid may recover after being removed to 

 another and more healthy kennel. If the second description of drafts 

 be collected, the chances are that the purchaser has very nearly as good 

 a pack by the second or third season (though, perhaps, not quite so 

 handsome and level to the eye) as the person's from whom they are ob- 

 tained. 



New masters of hounds are very frequently young men, whose know- 

 ledge in the secrets and mysteries of the kennel is in the perspective ; 

 their great ambition seems to be to be able to boast of beauty alone, 

 without considering the more important quahties. A well-matched and 

 level pack are certainly a most agreeable and beautiful object, and truly 

 worthy of admiration ; but if in chase they tail and are imable to run 

 together, they are, in my opinion, very inferior in both appearance and 

 value to those which carry a good head, without skirting or tailing, even 

 if they are not quite so equal in size. I have seen numbers of hounds 

 of all ages, in whose shape and make the most scrutinising and fasti- 

 dious judge might in vain seek for a faiUt, and which were the very 

 heau ideal of speed and stoutness ; yet totally unable to " go the pace," 

 or even to last out on a severe hunting day without tiring : nevertheless, 

 there is, no doubt, a good reason for it, which is beyond the knowledge 

 of man to discover. That pack of hounds has always been considered 

 the best by good judges which carries the best head, and can guide a 

 scent over a country for a great distance in the shortest time, making 

 their own turns without flashing aud deviating from the hue. Now what 

 is it which enables such hounds to acquit themselves so much to the ad- 

 miration of the sportsman ? Why it is nothing else but a superiority 

 of nose. There can be no doubt that some hounds are possessed by 

 nature of a finer sense of smell than others ; but it is a gift which, if 

 not absolutely to be acquired, is able to be cultivated ; and a skilful, 

 2)aticnt, and judicious huntsman may improve that faculty in a pack to 

 an incredible extent by invariahly — especially in the earlier part of the 

 season, when difficulties greater and more frequent are to be met with 

 — allowing them to trust solely to their own exertions to get through a 

 run, than constantly indulging them with assistance upon the occurrence 

 of every difficulty. The chief reasons for which hounds are drafted 

 from packs which may be considered to be established, are — besides 

 from their size not matching with others — lameness, and having delicate 

 constitutions, or being subject to fits ; their being wide or skirters, mute, 

 noisy — that is, cither speaking where a fox has never been, or throwing 

 their tongues before they are on the line of a fox, when going from any 

 point to join the leading hounds, forcing or driving at check without a 

 scent from jealousy, being incm-able hare-hunters, and hanging or tying 

 on the scent. As soon as a huntsman perceives a culprit to be guilty 

 of any of the above vices, he should without hesitation draft him before 

 the rest become contaminated by such evil examples. No vicious habit 

 is sooner acquired from others than skirting, being noisy, or tying on 

 the scent. A mute hound, particularly in woodlands, is more likely 

 than not to spoil the day's sport every time when he is taken out, and 



