SPAYING BITCHES. 'ZiJ 



of showing a few couples of their new entry for a prize, 

 which was most appropriate, namely, a piece of scarlet 

 cloth, to be made up into hunting coats. 



The practice of spaying bitches, so frequent in many 

 kennels, although it has its advantages in augmenting 

 the number of your forces in the spring, and in occa- 

 sionally being the means of giving strength to the 

 sickly, and reclaiming wildness, is by no means to be 

 recommended : it is a most barbarous and cruel prac- 

 tice, extremely difficult to perform, and, in many in- 

 stances, the operation fails to have the desired effect ; 

 not unfrequently bitches thus immatroned will show 

 the same desire for copulation as others which have not 

 been so cruelly tortured ; and in several instances, I 

 have known them absolutely to produce whelps. In 

 the spring of the year 1831, when the late Mr. Russel 

 was master of the Warwickshire hounds, and under 

 whose indefatigable care and directions that pack ob- 

 tained so great a celebrity, the operation was performed 

 upon nine couples of bitches, with what effect the reader 

 may judge for himself, as out of the number several 

 came on heat, and two or three absolutely produced 

 whelps, but much deformed, as some had forgotten to 

 bring their heads into the world, and others their legs, 

 the two most requisite members for a young fox-hound. 



According to the ancient custom of hunting, the 

 animals pursued in that diversion were divided into 

 three classes. 



The first class (termed beasts of hunting), were the 

 hare, the hart, the wolf, and the wild boar. 



The second class (termed beasts of chase), were the 

 buck, the doe, the fox, the martin, and the roe. 



