DRAWING ACCORDING TO SIZE AND PACE. 151 



by this means better runs will be obtained previous 

 to Christmas, than by nursing them, as is too fre- 

 quently the case in some favourite covers, until the 

 end of November, when they show but little or no 

 sport. If the number of hunting days in each week 

 is four, one of them ought, without fail, to be in the 

 woodlands ; and as fifty couples of hounds, which 

 would be necessary to hunt four days a week, would 

 be all the better if they hunted five, when the country 

 is sufficiently extensive, and the " sinews of war" 

 will allow of it, a fifth day should be invariably 

 devoted to rattling those covers, which, from being 

 situated in the worst part of the country, are not 

 favourite fixtures ; it would only be the expense of 

 three more horses for the men ; by this means each 

 pack would get a woodland day every week, which 

 would keep them steady, and their condition would 

 be much better than if they hunted only four. The 

 foxes, too, would be better preserved by the farmers 

 who might reside on that side ; and by driving them 

 so continually out of the large covers, they would fly 

 to the smaller ones, and afford much better runs when 

 found afterwards, from their geographical knowledge. 

 The possession of fifty couples of really good and 

 steady hounds is certainly a desideratum, which is not 

 so easily accomplished as some persons may suppose ; 

 a thorough knowledge of the individual capabilities 

 of the animal, and a quick discernment in the differ- 

 ence of their constitutions and speed, will be found 

 absolutely necessary for the arrangement of the pack, 

 so that they may run together; and that their labours 

 may be performed with the correctness and regularity 



