296 EFFECT OF DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. 



hounds. I hunt in three, all as different as it is 

 possible to be ; and the same hounds that be- 

 have well in one, sometimes appear to behave 

 indifferently in another. Were the most famous 

 pack, therefore, to change their good country 

 for the bad one I here allude to, though 

 without doubt they would behave well, they 

 certainly would meet with less success than they 

 are at present used to : our cold flinty hills 

 would soon convince them that the difference 

 betwixt one fox and another — the difference of 

 goodness betwixt one hound and another — are 

 yet but trifles when compared with the more 

 material difference of a good scenting country 

 and a bad one.* 



I can hardly think you serious, when you ask 

 me if the same hounds can hunt both hare and 

 fox : however, thus far you may assure your- 



* Great inequality of scent is very unfavourable to 

 hounds. In heathy countries the scent always lies ; yet I 

 have remarked that the many roads which cross them, and 

 the many inclosures of poor land that surround them, 

 render hunting in such countries, at times, very difficult to 

 hounds. The sudden change from a good scent to a bad 

 one puzzles their noses, and confuses their understand- 

 ings ; and many of them, without doubt, follow the scent 

 unwillingly, owing to the little credit that they give toit. 

 In my opinion, therefore, a scent which is less good, but 

 more equal, is more favourable to hounds. 



