igo THOUGHTS UPON HUNTING. 



the Sport, as often as he heard the hounds return from hunt- 

 ing, came out to meet them, and never failed to ask. the 

 duke, " What sport he had?" — ' Very .good, 1 thank you, 



* honest friend.' — " Has your grace killed a fox?" — ' No: 



* we have had a good run, but we have not killed.' — 

 «' Pshazv r' cried the butcher, looking archly, and pointing 

 at him with his finger. — This was so constantly repeated, 

 that the duke, when he had not killed a fox, was used to 

 say, that be was afraid to meet the butcher. 



You ask, Why the huntsman is to draw so quietly .^— 

 ^nd. Why up the wind ? — With regard to his drawing 

 quietly, that may depend on the kind of cover before him, 

 and also on the season of the year. If your covers be small, 

 or such from which a fox cannot break unseen, then 

 poise can do no hurt ; if you draw at a late hour, and 

 when there is no drag, then the niore the cover is dis- 

 turbed the better — the more likely you are to find. 

 Late in the season, foxes are wild, particularly in covers 

 ,that are often hunted. If you do not draw quietly, he 

 ^ will sometimes get too much the start of you. When you 

 have any suspicion of this, send on a whipper-in to the 

 opposite side of the cover, before you throw in your 



