140 HUNTING. 



he will often see the fox, and will at other times see some 

 object that has turned his fox from the point he is running to. 

 A sheep or cur dog who has coursed him perhaps. Sometimes 

 a shepherd or man with a dog, more truthful than his neigh- 

 bours, will say, ' I'm sorry my dog has run your fox up to such a 

 point,' but as a rule even when you have seen the dog coursing 

 the fox, the dog's master will swear he did not run him. Ex- 

 perience has taught me never to ask the man, but to ask the 

 dog. If you find him with his mouth shut, you may be satisfied 

 he has not run him ; if the dog's tongue is out and he is panting, 

 you will know he has run the fox, and then you can ask the 

 master how far the dog did run. 



It is a very extraordinary but well-known fact that in nine 

 cases out of ten if a fox is coursed by a dog during a run all 

 scent ceases afterwards, even when you get your hounds to the 

 line of the fox beyond where the dog has been. Scent is one 

 of the things ' no fellow can understand,' and this is one of 

 the most remarkable phenomena relating to it. Except practice 

 and experience and what a huntsman will learn from it, I know 

 nothing more that I can say to assist a beginner in his work. 

 One remark I may make, and that is, that though to get to 

 know the hounds and make them know their huntsman it is as 

 well to feed them at first, after you have killed one fox with 

 them it is unnecessary, as they will always leave the man who 

 feeds for the man who hunts them. Also I strongly advise 

 hounds being allowed to eat their fox when they catch him ; 

 they should not be knocked about and beaten when the fox 

 is taken away to be cut up by the whipper-in. 



Should any beginner try to get a hint from these pages, I 

 shall be pleased if these few remarks (which for convenience, 

 having so much personal observation to make, I am putting in 

 the first person singular) prove of any assistance to him. 



