THOUGHTS UPON HUNTINQ. I4J; 



some exercise, and seems by Nature dejiigned 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 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 fevv'er hounds you 

 have, the less you foil the ground, which you otherwise 

 would find a great hindrance to your hunting. Your 

 other question is not easily ansv>rered. The hounds, I think, 

 most likely to shew you sport, are between the large slow- 

 hunting harrier and the little fox-beagle : the former 

 are too dull, too heavy, and too slow j the latter too 

 lively, too light, and too fleet. The first species, 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 hunt- 



* A hound that runs too fast for the rest, ought not to be kept. 

 Some huntsmen load them with heavy collars ; some tie a long strap 

 round their necks ; a better way would be, to part with them. Whether 

 .they go too slow, or tpo fast^ they ought eqvjally to be drafted. 



