HUNTING DIRECTORY. 161 



Recovering a hunted Fox when Scent fails. 



in plenty, it may be acting wisely to take oft' the hounds 

 at the first fault they come to ; for the fox will go many 

 miles for your one, and probably will run you out of all 

 scent ; but if he should not, you wiU be likely to change 

 at the first cover you come into : when a fox has been 

 hard pressed, he should not be easily given up. 



" When you would recover a hunted fox, and have no 

 longer a scent to hunt him by, a long cast to the first 

 cover he seems to point to, is the only resource you have 

 left : get there as fast as you can, and then let your 

 hounds try as slowly and as quietly as possible : if hunt- 

 ing after him is hopeless, and a long cast does not succeed ^ 

 you had better give him up. Need I remind you, that, 

 when the scent lies badly, and you find it impossible for 

 hounds to run, you had better return home, since the 

 next day may be more favourable. It surely is a great 

 fault in a huntsman to persevere in bad weather, when 

 hounds cannot riui, and when there is not a probabihty 

 of kilHng a fox. Some there are, who, after they have 

 lost one fox for want of scent to hunt him by, will find 

 another ; this makes their hounds slack, and sometimes 

 vicious ; it also disturbs the covers to no purpose. Some 

 sportsmen are more lucky in their days than others. If 

 you hunt every other day, it is possible they may be all 

 bad, and the intermediate days all good ; an indifferent 

 pack therefore, by hunting on good days, may kill foxes, 

 without any merit ; and a good pack, notwithstanding 

 all their exertion, may lose foxes which they deserved to 

 kill. 



"A perfect knowledge of his country certainly is a 

 great help to a huntsman ; if your's as yet has it not, 



