LA W GIVEN TO FOXES 67 



pressed in view at first starting. I have, when deer- 

 stalking in the Highlands, known deer go down 

 wind if they suspected danger in front of them, and I 

 have seen them do so and hide in the most unlikely 

 places to which they might be expected to take. 

 If these are the tactics of a deer which is unpressed 

 by dogs, it is hardly a matter for surprise that a fox 

 pressed from the very start should adopt the same. 

 How frequently do foxes seem to disappear altogether 

 after a burst of a fe^v minutes, even with a burning 

 scent ! Very probably such foxes are often accounted 

 for after all ; but I base my conclusion on my own 

 experiences, and I have frequently, when waiting for 

 hounds to come to me, met the fox under the very 

 conditions which I have described. Hence my con- 

 viction, which I have still further proved to be a right 

 one with my own pack of ' dwindle foxhounds,' that 

 on a good scenting day, if it is desired to drive a fox up 

 wind, he must not be unduly pressed at starting. 



Many a time, as many of my readers must be aware, 

 it happens in good scenting grass countries that a fox, 

 having been found, will afford a short burst, and it 

 maybe is killed, or, sad to relate, perhaps ' chopped,' 

 and then the pack is laid on to the line of another fox 

 which was ' viewed away ' at the same time as the 

 first, but going in another direction, a quarter of an 

 hour previously, and a rattling gallop is obtained, 

 especially if the day be a good scenting one. I have 

 the vivid recollection of one special instance of this 

 kind which occurred some twenty-five years ago. My 

 experience had led me to infer, from the circumstances of 

 a run from my own covert of Ratoath, in County Meath, 

 that foxes, like deer, can, on really good scenting days, 



