118 NOTITIA VENATICA. 



at work, tliey had better bo taken home, and brought mit a day earlier 

 for the next hunting morning ; but if a fox has not been killed, the pack 

 should be kept at work as long as it may be reasonably supposed that 

 there is the least chance of the hounds catching hold of a cub either 

 above or below ground. 



The sooner you can begin after the corn is cut the better, as it gives 

 hounds so much more advantage when the foxes are not come to their 

 full strength ; a good beginning is half the battle, and that is one reason 

 why it is generally recommended to wait foi- a shower of rain to cool the 

 covers and improve the scent. Work of the right sort, added to blood, 

 is what is rcquii-ed ; one without the other is of little avail, and where 

 good luck forsakes you, cubs scarce, and tlie great desideratum cannot 

 be obtained by fair means, others must be I'esorted to, let them be what 

 they will, to gain the point ; however, anything in the world is better 

 than turning out a bagman, the scent of which is as difterent from the 

 natural smell of a wild fox as a red herring is from a fresh mackerel. 

 The ill effects which the custom of indulging hoimds with this spurious 

 kind of blood produces will soon discover itself, if frequently put in prac- 

 tice ; hares, cur-dogs, &c., will be all alike to them, and their hurry 

 and wildness in drawing will be no less manifest than their unsteadiness 

 in chase. Even foxhounds which have before been steady, after too 

 much rest frequently become Avild and migovernable. Some years ago, 

 when Lord Middleton hunted Warwickshire, and whose celebrated pack 

 stood as high in the estimation of fox-hunters as any in the world, a _ 

 most unfortunate occurrence took place, and which is a convincing proof 

 that during any part of the year when the pack are not at work they 

 cannot have too much strong exercise. After a long and severe frost, 

 the hounds met at Walton Wood, and having forced a fox into the open, 

 were running him with a good fair scent, when suddenly they changed 

 his lino for that of a dark, red-coloured dog (which had no doubt been 

 coursing him), and fairly ran into him and pulled him to pieces before 

 any one could get to them to stop them. 



A misfortune of the same nature also happened to Mr. Corbet's hoxmds 

 in the same country, namely, Warwickshire ; and Will Barrow, his 

 huntsman, found out the mistake just in time to stop them before they 

 would undoubtedly have killed him. The cur ran a footpath through 

 eight or nine stiles in succession — a thing which a fox never does, always 

 avoiding every stile, gate, or flight of rails, if he can possibly find a 

 mouse in the hedge by which he can make his way instead. As Will 

 jumped the eighth stile, he exclaimed — " They are running a dog, by 

 G — ! as no fox would run through a hue of stiles like this. " And he 

 was I'ight, and stopped the pack in time to save them from such a dis- 

 graceful finish. 



I may have once or twice in my life hunted a " put-down fox," as it 

 is sometimes called ; but it is a custom I never approved of, nor have I 

 ever known any good judges of hunting who recommended it. I once 

 killed a fox in rather an extraordinary manner : he was not a bagman, 

 although he appeared to have been just shook from the soot-sack of a 

 chimney-swee])er. The facts were as follows : — I was sitting late one 



