HUNTING DIRECTORY. 193 



Of Halloos and Tired Foxes. 



his finger perhaps, and then away you all ride as fast as 

 you can ; and in such a hurry, that not one will stay to 

 hear the answer which you were all so desirous of 

 knowing : the general consequence of which is, you 

 mistake the place, and are obliged to return to the man 

 for better information. Depend upon it the less hurry 

 you are in on this occasion, the less time you lose ; and 

 wherever the fox was seen for a certainty, whether near 

 or distant, that will not only be the surest, but also the 

 best, place to take the scent. 



" Once a man hallooed us back a mile (says Beckford) 

 only to tell us that we were right before ; and we lost 

 the fox by it." 



Hounds ought not to be cast as long as they are able 

 to hunt ; and though it is a good maxim for a fox-himter 

 to suppose that a hunted fox never stops, that he may 

 be active and lose no time, yet tired foxes must stop 

 somewhere ; and I once recollect observing one lying on 

 a dunghill, in a farm yard, amongst the pigs. He had 

 been run for more than one hour and a half, and the 

 hounds came in full cry up to a farm yard, when they 

 could no longer make out the scent. A gentleman posi- 

 tively declared that he saw the fox go through the stack 

 yard and make off, and was anxious that the huntsman 

 should proceed in that direction : the latter, however, 

 appeared very doubtful of the correctness of this infor- 

 mation, and after casting his hounds round the buildings, 

 became convinced that renard had not gone forward. 

 On examining the farm yard, he was found to have 

 placed himself in the midst of the pigs on the dunghill, 

 where he lay completely exhausted. A tired fox ought 



