202, THOUGHTS UPON HUNTING. 



You think me too severe on skirters. I must confess, 

 that 1 have but one objeftion to them, and it is this — 1 havs 

 constantly seen them do more harm than good. 



Changing from the hunted fox to a fresh one, is as 

 bad an accident as can happen to a pack of foj^-hounds, 

 and requires all the observation and all the ingenuity 

 that man is capable of, to guard against it. Could a 

 fox-hound distinguish a hunted fox as the deer-hound 

 does the deer that is blown, fox-hunting would then be 

 perfed. There are certain rules that ought to be ob- 

 served by huntsmen. A huntsman should always listen 

 to his hounds while they are running in cover ; he should 

 be particularly attentive to the headmost hounds, and 

 should be constantly on his guard against a skirter ; for, if 

 there be two scents, he must be w^rong. Generally speak- 

 ing, the best scent is least likely to be that of the hunted 

 fox ', and as a fox seldom suffers hounds to run up to him 



happy in the application. He has also misquoted the passage — the author 

 does not say tire, but tie upon the scent. — Good hounds, when they be- 

 come aged, are liable to the first ; bad ones only, are guilty of the last. 

 In either case, death is not meant as a punishment, nor is it considered 

 as a misfortune. — Vide_Mon<hIy Review. 



