THOUGHTS UPON HUNTING. IO9 



a pnck that, after having killed one fox in the morning 

 with the young hounds, killed another in the evening with 

 the old ones. Scent generally lies well at the close of the 

 day ; yet there is a great objedion to hunting at that time j 

 animals are then more easily disturbed, and you have a 

 greater variety of scents than at an earlier hour. 



Having given you all the information that I can pos* 

 sibly recoiled, with regard to my own management of 

 young hounds, 1 shall now take notice of that part of your 

 last letter, where, I am sorry to findj our opinions differ. 

 Obedience, you say, is every thing necessary in a hound, 

 and it is of little consequence by what means it is ob- 

 tained. I cannot altogether concur in that opinion j for 

 I think it very necessary that the hound should at the 

 same time understand you : obedience, under proper ma- 

 nagem.ent, will be a necessary consequence of it. Obe- 

 dience, surely, is not all that is required of them : they 

 should be taught to distinguish of themselves right from 

 wrong, or 1 know not how they are to be managed when, 

 as it frequently happens, we cannot see what they are at, 

 and must take their words for it. A hound that hears a 

 voice which has often rated him, and that hears .the whip 



