KENNEL MANAGEMENT. 347 



ters of hounds, however, (the justly celebrated Mr. 

 Ralph Lambton one of them,) do not feed with 

 flesh on the day before hunting, giving only meal 

 and broth ; and this on the supposition that the 

 faculty of scent is more delicately susceptible with- 

 out it. Young hounds lately come from walks 

 should be fed twice in the day, as they do not 

 always, at first, take to kennel food. 



Colonel Cook is thus explicit and correct on the 

 subject of feeding hounds, and their condition, the 

 result of many years experience, and great atten- 

 tion to the kennel. " It is quite certain,"" says he, 

 " a hound too high in condition cannot run a burst, 

 neither can a poor half-starved one kill an afternoon 

 fox ; a hound, therefore, cannot be considered as fit 

 to be brought out, if he is either too high or too 

 low. I like to see their ribs, but their loins should 

 be well filled up, and they should be hollow in their 

 flanks : he that is full in the flanks is sure to be 

 fat in the inside, and consequently not fit for work. 

 The feeding of hounds, and the bringing them to 

 cover, able to run a burst, or kill an afternoon fox, 

 is not altogether a thing so easy as some people 

 imagine ; in fact, it requires nearly as much trouble 

 to get a hound into condition as it does a horse ; 

 and if the greatest attention is not paid to this 

 particular, you cannot expect to catch many foxes. 

 It is the condition of a hound which gives him the 

 advantage over the animal he hunts. Nevertheless, 

 their constitutions diff'er as much as those of the 

 human species ; some require thick food, others 

 thin ; the same quantity which may be requisite 



