THOUGHTS UPON HUNTING. 24I 



cation is capable of; and it is to education I mufl: 

 chiefly attribute the fliperior excellence of the 

 buck-hound, lince I have feen high-bred fox- 

 hounds do the fame under the fame good maf- 

 ters. But to return to my fubje6l. 



Young foxes, that have been much difturbed, 

 will lie at ground. I once found feven or eight 

 in a cover, where the next day I could not find 

 one; nor were they to be found elfewherc : the 

 earths, at fuch time, fbould be flopped three or 

 four hours before day, or you vv^ill find no foxes. 



The firft day you hunt a cover that is full of 

 foxes, and you want blood, let them not be 

 checked back into the cover, which is the ufual 

 pradlice at fuch times, but let fome of them get 

 off: if you do not, what with continual changing, 

 and fometimes running the heel, it is probable 

 that you will not kill any. Another precaution, 

 I think, may be alfo neceffary ; that is, to flop 

 fuch earths only as you cannot dig. If fome foxes 

 fhould go to ground it will be as well ; and if 

 you fhould be in want of blood at lafl, you will 

 then know where to £fet it. 



to" 



It is ufual, when people are not certain of the 

 fteadinefs of their hounds from deer, to find a 

 fox in an adjacent cover, that they may be on 

 their right fcent when they come where deer arc. 



R I have 



