THOUGHTS UPON HUNTING. 357 



at a late hour, he should draw a furze-cover as slowly as 

 if he were himself on foot. I am well convinced that 

 huntsmen, by drawing in too great a hurry, leave foxes 

 sometimes behind them. I once saw a remarkable in- 

 stance of it with my own hounds : we had drawn (as we 

 thought) a cover, which, in the whole, consisted of about 

 ten acres ; yet, whilst the huntsman was blowing his horn 

 to get his hounds off, one young fox was halloo'd, and 

 another was seen immediately after : it was a cover on 

 the side of a hill, and the foxes had kennelled close to- 

 gether at an extremity of it, where no hound had been. 

 Some huntsmen draw too quick, some too slow. — The 

 time of day, the behaviour of his hounds, and the covers 

 that they are drawing, will direfl an observing huntsman in 

 the pace which he oUght to go. When you try a furze- 

 brake, let me give you one caution — never halloo a 

 fox till you see that he is quite clear of it. When a 

 fox is found in such places, hounds are sure to go off 

 well with him ; and it must be owing either to bad scent, 

 bad hounds, bad management, or bad luck, if they f^il to 

 kill him afterwards. 



It is usual, in most packs, to rate, as soon as a young 



