134 THE KIND OF HOUND. 



and a wholesome exercise, and seems by nature 

 designed to be the amusement of a Briton. 



You ask, how many hounds a pack of harriers 

 should consist of? and what kind of hound is 

 best suited to that diversion ? You should 

 never, I think, exceed twenty couple in the 

 field ; it might be difficult to get a greater 

 number to run well together, and a pack of 

 harriers cannot be complete if they do not:* 

 besides, the fewer hounds you have, the less 

 you foil the ground, which you otherwise would 

 find a great hinderance to your hunting. Your 

 other question is not easily answered : the hounds, 

 I think, most likely to show you sport, are be- 

 tween the large slow-hunting harrier and the 

 little fox beagle : one is too dull, too heavy, 

 and too slow; the other, tcJb lively, too light, 

 and too fleet. The first, it is true, have most 

 excellent noses, and I make no doubt will kill 

 their game at last, if the day be long enough ; 

 but you know the days are short in winter, and 

 it is bad hunting in the dark. The others, on 

 the contrary, fling and dash, and are all alive ; 



* A hound that runs too fa?t for the rest ought not to be 

 kept. Some huntsmen load them with heavy collars ; some 

 tie a long strap round (heir necks ; a better way would be, 

 to part with them. Whether they go too sIoav, or too fast, 

 tliey ought equally to be drafted. 



