^Nimrod ' 



Slow as this system would now be deemed, it was a grand 

 treat to the real sportsman. What, in the language of the 

 chace, is called ' the tender-nosed hound ' had an oppor- 

 tunity of displaying himself to the inexpressible delight of 

 his master ; and to the field — that is, to the sportsmen who 

 joined in the diversion — the pleasures of the day were en- 

 hanced by the moments of anticipation produced by the 

 drag. As the scent grew warmer, the certainty of finding 

 was confirmed ; the music of the pack increased ; and, 

 the game being up, away went the hounds ' in a crash.' 

 Both trail and drag are at present but little thought of ; 

 hounds merely draw over ground most likely to hold the 

 game they are in quest of, and thus, in a great measure, 

 rely upon chance for coming across it ; for if a challenge 

 be heard, it can only be inferred that a fox has been on 

 foot in the night — the scent being seldom sufficient to 

 enable the hound to carry it up to his kennel. Advantages, 

 however, as far as sport is concerned, attend the present 

 hour of meeting in the field. Independently of the misery 

 of riding many miles in the dark, which sportsmen of the 

 early part of the last century were obliged to do, the game, 

 when it is now aroused, is in a better state to encounter the 

 great speed of modern hounds, having had time to digest 

 the food which it has partaken of in the night, previously 

 to its being stirred. But it is only since the great increase 

 of hares and foxes that the aid of the trail and drag could 

 be dispensed with, without the frequent recurrence of blank 

 days, which now seldom happen. 



133 



