354 THE HOUND. 



which time the whiteness and evenness of his teeth 

 are a pretty certain test of his not exceeding that 

 period. An old hound, however, cannot be mis- 

 taken if only looked in the face, where he shows 

 old age nearly as distinctly as man. As to the 

 length of services of hounds, that depends upon 

 circumstances. Few are found in a kennel after 

 their eighth year, and tery few after their ninth ; 

 and not many hard-working hounds can " run up,'' 

 or keep pace with the rest, after their fifth season 

 at most. Hounds are in their prime in the third 

 and fourth }■ ears ; and although there are a few 

 instances, such as Sir Richard Sutton's Lucifer, 

 the Beaufort Nector, and the Cheshire Villager, of 

 their hunting in their twelfth, eleventh, and tenth 

 year, the average of their work cannot, we fear, be 

 placed beyond four seasons. Old hounds are use- 

 ful in the field, but when they cannot run up with 

 the pack, they should be drafted. The perfection 

 of a pack consists in the great body of it being com- 

 posed of hounds quite in their prime. 



Separation of the Sexes. — The separation of 

 the sexes in the kennel and in the field is one of the 

 late innovations in the hunting world, and gene- 

 rally considered as a good one. In the first place, 

 it pleases the eye to see a pack of hounds nearly 

 all of a size, which cannot be the case when it is 

 composed of dogs and bitches mixed ; and the cha- 

 racter of the animal is likewise more unii\n'mly dis- 

 played when confined to one individual sex. Se- 

 condly, by the total separation of dogs and bitches 



