88 METHOD OF BLOODING 



When my young hounds are taken out to air, 

 my huntsman takes them into the country in 

 which they are to begin to hunt. It is attended 

 with this advantage ; they acquire a knowledge 

 of the country, and when left behind at any time, 

 cannot fail to find their way home more easily. 



When they begin to hunt, they are first taken 

 into a large cover of my own, which has many 

 ridings cut in it, and where young foxes are 

 turned out every year on purpose for them. 

 Here it is they are taught the scent they are to 

 hunt, are encouraged to pursue it, and are stop- 

 ped from every other. Here they are blooded 

 to fox. I must also tell you, that as foxes are 

 plentiful in this cover, the principal earth is not 

 stopped, and the foxes are checked back, or 

 some of them let in, as may best suit the pur- 

 pose of blooding. After they have been hunted 

 a few days in this manner, they are then sent to 

 distant covers, and more old hounds are added 

 to them : there they continue hunting till they 

 are taken into the pack, which is seldom later 

 than the beginning of September ; * for by that 

 time they will have learned what is required of 



• Sport, in fox-hunting, cannot be said to begin before 

 October ; but, in the two preceding months, a pack is either 

 made or marred. 



