THOUGHTS UPON HUNTING. 3QI 



If they come to a long fault, it is over, and yoy had bep* 

 rer then go home. 



The many chances that are against you in fox-hunt- 

 ing j the changing frequently ; the heading of the' foxes; 

 their being coursed by sheep-dogs ; long faults j cold 

 hunting; and the dying away of the scent; make it ne- 

 cessary to keep always as near to the fox ^s you can; 

 which should be the first and invariable principle of 

 fox-hunting. Long days do great hurt to a pack of fox- 

 hounds. I set out one day last winter from the kennel 

 at half past seven, and returned home a quarter before 

 eight at night, the hounds running hard the greatest part 

 of the time : the huntsman killed one horse and tired 

 another, and the hounds did not recover for more than 

 a week*: we took them off at last, when they were running 

 with a better scent than they had had the whole day. — 



huntings they tie upon the scent, and, by losing time, lose every chance 

 they had of killing the fox : great encouragement, and proper and timely 

 assistance, only can prevent it. 



* Hounds, after every hard day, should have two clear days to rest : it 

 does them less hurt to hunt two days following, when their work is easy, 

 tlian to hunt, before they may be perfeftly recovered, after having been 

 hard-run. 



R r 2 



