KiO • NOTITIA VKNATICA. 



were a lew years since lull ol' loxes, niul ailoriled excellent sport, both 

 in cub-liunting and the spring, arc now nearly deprived of the presence 

 ol" tliose animals. T, for my own part, am a great admirer of spring 

 1 Hinting, and have frequently seen as good sport and as hard running at 

 this time of the year as at any other. When hunting in large wood- 

 lands, twenty years since, it was not a very unconunon occurrence to meet 

 with a marten-cat ; he is a beautiful animal, and where they abound he 

 may be seen easily in a morning, running about and drying himself 

 along a park-paling, or other wooden fence, previous to his going into his 

 ])lace of retirement, which is sometimes a hollow tree, and occasionally 

 tlie usur])ed nest of the magpie or carrion crow ; but the murderous 

 system of trapping has nearly anniliilated not only the marten, but 

 almost all other Avild animals and birds of prey. In those days the 

 great glcdo or fork-tailed kite, the buzzard, and the I'aven might be 

 both seen and heard continually, when hunting in the neighbourhood 

 of any largo woodlands, in the solitude of which their well-known forms 

 and notes made an interesting addition to the harmony of the scene. 

 But they liave vanished, and that more fashionable foreigner, the phea- 

 sant, has su])plantcd them. Tlie scent of the marten-cat is remark- 

 aid y sweet, and eagerly pursued by almost every description of dog : 

 our forefathers used to enter their foxhounds to him, as by his running 

 the thickest brakes they were taught to turn quick with a scent, and to 

 I'un in cover without skirting. Although in the constant habit of climb- 

 ing, when hunted, he Avill stand sometimes for above half an hour before 

 hounds, with a good scent, before treeing, when the following method 

 of dislodging him is frequently practised : — A man clhnbs part of the 

 way up the tree, and holds nnder him some damp straw or hay, which is 

 lighted : immediately upon his ])erceiving the smoke he darts out of the 

 tree ; and so great is his agility, that he will, more frequently than not, 

 escape through the logs of the hounds wliidi stand baying at him and 

 eagerly watching his descent. About twenty years since, a remarkable 

 coincidence occuJTcd to the hounds of Sir Richard Sutton, in the ]>urton 

 country, and whicli Averc divided into a dog and bitch pack, each Icilling 

 during the season twenty-one brace and a half of foxes and each a 

 ]warten-cat, in a Avood near to Lincoln ; one Avas killed in cub-hunting, 

 the other later in the season. 



As I remarked before, foxhounds Avill, at times, freely throAV their 

 tongues on any descrij)tiou of vermin : foAV hounds can resist the SAveet 

 scent of the otter. The WarAvickshire hounds, about Hfteen years ago, 

 hunted an otter from llellbrake, a cover near Idlicote, about half a mile 

 down to tlie Idlicote brook, Avlun-e they gave him u]). 



If the outstanding Avoodlands ai'e largt', and the foxes plentiful, there 

 can be no hann in ])rotracting this noble anmscmcnt, as long as the 

 farmer is not injured by it ; but Avhere the land is totally arable, and 

 Avhere the cubs will be Avell taken care of, and Avherc they Avill be useful 

 to enter the young hounds in autunm, 1 Avould on no account cut tliem 

 off in tlie spring by killing the old vixens. A brace or tAvo of cubs 

 killod in August or September Avill be of more service to the Avelfare of 

 the pack than twice that luimber Avould be if murdered in April or 



