154 NOTITIA VENATIOA. 



horses on tlic lull, botli padded the footsteps of" the hounds through the 

 snow, nearly four miles uj) Glcnogil, when fortiuiatcjly they fell in Avith 

 the pack, after they had eaten their fox — a pad or two being the solo 

 remnants of the hancpiet. These were carefully treasured up, and will 

 doubtless find a niche beside ' Rival,'* in Sandie Ross's hunt parlour. 

 We believe Mr. Walker's pedestrian performance quite iniparalleled in 

 the annals of hunting. 



With regard to scent, I never yet could meet Avith any person 

 who could satisfactorily prove to me how it is ])roduced, or in Avhat Avay 

 the atmosjiherc affects the increase or diminution of it. Scent is Avell 

 known to exist in all Aveathers, and Avitli the air at all tcm2)craturcs ; I 

 have seen a most brilliant scent in the hardest black frost at Christmas, 

 and also under the scoi'cing influence of the sun in the months of April 

 and May ; I have Avitnessed a total absence of it in the gloomy and soft 

 mizzling damp of November, in Avhich kind of Aveather scent is generally 

 observed to prevail ; and in the boisterous and drying Avinds of March I 

 have known hounds to run for an hour as if they had been tied to a fox. 

 The spring, Avith the exception of the period Avhen the blustering March 

 Avinds set in, generally produces better runs than any other part of the 

 year : but I have also known the day to produce a good scent, even 

 during that tempestuous season. I Avas once riding to cover in a per- 

 fect hurricane in March, and calling at the house of a friend to break- 

 fast, observed to him that it Avould be quite useless to attempt to hunt as 

 the air was so piercing, and the Avind so tremendously strong that I 

 could Avith difficulty keep my cap on my head, and consequently there 

 could be no scent ; he smiled and said I Avas much mistaken, as there 

 Avas a most burning scent, Avhich he had proved, having had a most 

 capital run just before. The fact Avas, he had started his gardener, 

 Avitli a quarter of an hour's laAV, in a circle of about two miles round his 

 park, and had then hunted him Avitlj tAvo bloodhounds Avhich ho kept. 

 AAvay they Avent in right good style, and the affrighted gardener had 

 only just time to escape into a tree near the house, as 



" Yelled on the view the opening pack."t 



My friend's conjectures proved perfectly true ; notAvithstanding the con- 

 tinuance of the storm Ave threw oft". It Avas a large deep Avoodland 

 Avhere we found ; but the fox, Avhich was no doubt a traveller, faced the 

 Avind in almost determined manner, and Ave killed him, after fifty-five 

 minutes' hard running, close to ]>romsgrove Lickey. What impi-essed 

 it more particidarly on my mind Avas, that Ave had to ride a thstance of 

 twenty-five miles home afterwards. The general indications of a good 

 scent are — Avhen the hounds smell strong when they come out in a 

 morning, and Avhen they puke on their road to cover ; if the pave- 

 ment sweats or looks dam]), more particularly on the barometer rising 

 than Avhen it is the reverse ; when the horses are faint on their road to 



* " Rival," a celebrated h.ound in Lord Panmure's pack. His painting, inter 

 alias, graces the hunt parlour at Forfar, innwediately behind the chairman's seat. 



t " l^ady of the Lake." 



