36 IsOTlTlA VENATICA. 



witli. In fact notliiug is so disgraceful as in a run of any severity to 

 hear of detached bodies of hounds making their way over a country ; 

 and it is considered by all houndsinen that a hound missing at the death 

 of a fox after a trial of speed and stoutness, provided that hound was 

 well and had a fair start with the body, and was not thrown out by 

 being divided on a second fox at finding, should never be taken out 

 again to disgrace not only himself but the breeder of him. Numerous 

 anecdotes are on record of hounds killing foxes single handed after 

 severe runs ; one in particular is related by Daniel, of a bitch running 

 into her fox even after having her eye accidentally cut out by the lash 

 of the whipper-in, Avho attempted to stop her at finding. I remem- 

 ber, about twenty -years ago, myself. Sir Thomas Mostyn's hounds throw- 

 ing off at HeUidon Gorse, near Shuckborough ; when, having, as Tom 

 Wingfield the huntsman fancied, drawn the cover without finding, 

 two couple of hounds slipped away at the bottom, and after a 

 most brilhant thing, all by themselves, killed their fox near to Dun- 

 church, Avhere they were seen by a farmer who Avas up at the death and 

 secured the hounds, who followed him with the dead fox in his hand to 

 his stable ; no doubt, if they had broken the fox up themselves, they 

 would have immediately made their way across the country to try and 

 join their less fortunate comrades. Daniel also mentions the circum- 

 stance of a pack dividing into three bodies at finding, and each lot get- 

 ting well away, aU succeeding in killing their fox, after a chase of great 

 severity. 



The following instance of the sagacity of the foxhound, approaching 

 nearer to reason than instinct, is a favourite anecdote of mine, inasmuch 

 as I am intimately acquainted with every inch of ground over Avhich this 

 sagacious animal travelled dm'ing his performance of the feat, having 

 been accustomed to hunt over that part of the country for many years 

 during the early part of my life. When Mr. Taylor and Mr. Smith 

 hunted Northamptonshire, and kept their hounds at Winwick, a village 

 in that county, they were in the habit of going occasionally to Lutter- 

 worth, in Leicestershire, for a fortnight's hunting. Upon one of these 

 occasions a favourite hound, called Dancer, was left behind in North- 

 amptonshire, as not being quite sound. The first day's hunting from 

 Lutterworth produced an extraordinary day's sport, and the hounds and 

 horses being so much fatigued, it was deemed necessary to stop that 

 night at Leicester. Upon their arrival on the next day at Lutterworth, 

 they Avere informed that a hound answering the description of Dancer 

 came soon after they had left the kennel in the morning, where he 

 waited all day, and, after shewing signs of uneasiness at their not return- 

 ing at night, left the kennel sometime before the next morning. It was 

 concluded that he had gone back to Winwick. On the hounds return- 

 ing t(» their kennel, in Northamptonshire, the huntsman was surprised 

 to hear that the old liound had come back, stayed one day, and then 

 had departed again. After great inquiries he was at last found at Mr. 

 Newsomc's, in Warwickshire, where the hounds had been for a week 

 some months before. 



For the authenticity of the following anecdotes, 1 think 1 may aufely 



