CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 5. CARNIVORA, 



217 



THE FOX-HOUND. 



inches, to fourteen feet four inches, and at either extremity is another lodging-room, thirty-two 

 feet six inches in length, and fourteen feet six inches in width. Coming into the court, we find 

 the store-room twenty-four feet by fourteen and a half, and the stable of the same dimensions. 

 At the top of the buildings are openings for the admission of cold air, and stoves to warm the 

 air when too cold. There are plentiful supplies of water from tanks holding ten thousand gallons; 

 so that there is no inconvenience from the smell. Round the whole building is a pavement five 

 feet wide ; airy yards and places for breeding, &c, making part of each wing. For the hunts- 

 man and whipper-in there are sleeping-rooms, and a neat parlor or kitchen." 



The hunting metropolis of Great Britain is Melton-Mowbray, in Leicestershire, and such is the 

 scale on which the sport is conducted, that the place has stabling for a thousand horses. The 

 hunting season lasts from the beginning of November to the end of March. During this period 

 the town is frequented by the leading sportsmen of the Three Kingdoms, and some from the con- 

 tinent, and even from America. The sport is conducted with unrivaled tact, science, and splendor. 

 Xoblemen of the highest rank, princes, statesmen, soldiers, scholars, mingle in the exciting chase. 

 The horses are of the finest breed and blood, and are trained in the perfection of art. A party 

 of fifty gentlemen, with as many retainers, and a hundred dogs, scampering over the rich and 

 beautiful country, filling the air with the cry of hound and horn, is a most imposing spectacle. 



The Stag-Hound is distinguished from the fox-hound by the apparent broadness and short- 

 ness of his head, his longer cheek, his straighter hock, his wider thigh, and deeper chest, and 

 better feathered and more beautifully arched tail. His appearance indicates strength and stout- 

 ness, in which indeed he is unequaled, and he has sufficient speed to render it difficult for the 

 best horses long to keep pace with him. This animal, as its name imports, is used for the chase 

 of the deer, which is deemed a royal sport. The stag-hounds are now a part of the regular 

 Crown establishment. The royal kennel is situated upon Ascot Heath, about six miles from 

 W indsor. At the distance of a mile from the kennel is Swinley Lodge, the official residence of 

 the Master of the Stag-Hounds. 



The chase of the stag appears to be very exciting sport. "When one of them first hears the 

 cry of the hounds, he runs with the swiftness of the wind, and continues to run as long as any 

 sound of his pursuers can be distinguished. That having ceased, he pauses and looks carefully 

 around him; but before he can determine Avhat course to pursue, the cry of tin- pack again 

 forces itself upon his attention. Once more he darts away, and after a while again pauses. His 

 strength perhaps begins to fail, and he has recourse to stratagem in order to escape. He practices 

 and, the crossing of the fox or the hare. This being useless, he attempts to escape 



the doubling ai 

 "*Vol. I.— 28 



