ii THOUGHTS UPON HUNTING. 



for, though I am a great advocate for stile in the kilHng of 

 a fox, I never forgive a professed skirter : where game is in 

 plenty, they are always changing, and are the loss of more 

 foxes than they kill. 



You ask me, how many hounds you ought to keep ? 

 It is a question not easy to answer : from tvvcnty to thirty 

 couple are as many, 1 think, as you should ever take 

 into the field. The propriety of any number must de- 

 pend upon the strength of your pack, and the country in 

 which you are to hunt : the quantity of hounds necessary 

 to furnish that number for a whole season, must also de- 

 pend on the country where you hunt ; as some countries 

 lame hounds more than others. The taking out too many 

 hounds, Mr. Somerville very properly calls an useless incujii- 

 brance. It is not so material what the number is, as it is 

 that all your hounds should be steady, and as nearly as pos- 

 sible of equal speed. 



When packs are very large, the hounds are seldom 

 sufficiently hunted to be good. Few people choose to hunt 

 every day 3 and, if they did, it is not likely that the wea- 



