THOtJGHTS UPON HUNXtNCJi 24^ 



htSLT hounds halloo'd one minute and rated the next : nor- 

 thing offends a good sportsman so much^ or is in itself so 

 hurtful. I will give you an instance of the danger of it :— . 

 My beagles were remarkably steady : they hunted hare in 

 Cranborn Chase^ where deer are in great plenty-, and would 

 draw for hours, without taking the least notice of them. 

 When tired of hare-hunting, I was inclined to try if I could 

 find any diversion in hunting of fallow deer. I had been 

 fold, that it would be impossible to do it with those hounds 

 that had been made steady from them j and^ to put it to 

 the trial, 1 took them into a cover of my ov/n, which has ma^ 

 ny ridings cut in it, and where are many deer. The first deer 

 that we saw we hailoo'd -, and, by great encouragement and 

 constant hallooing, there were but few of thes6 steady hounds 

 but would run the scent. They hunted deer constantly 

 from that day, and never lost one afterwards. Dogs are 

 sensible animals : they soon find out what is required of 

 them, when we do not confuse them by our own heedless* 

 hess : when we encourage them to htint a scent which they 

 have been rated from, and perhaps severely chastised for hunt* 

 ing, they must needs think us cruel, capricious, and incon* 

 sistent *. 



* Though all hounds ought to bi made obedient, tione requite It sp 



K k 



