20 OBSERVATIONS ON FOX-HUNTING 



that he may excel his neighbours. So much for 

 the distemper ; which, certainly, next to a kennel 

 lameness, is about the greatest misfortune that 

 can befall a master of hounds. 



With regard to the use of Terriers in the field ; 

 — they are no doubt sometimes of service, par- 

 ticularly when Foxes use drains, but if they are 

 not jyerfectly steady, they will do a great deal of 

 mischief. They should invariably be entered with 

 the young hounds., and always be kept in the 

 kennel. As a matter of curiosity, I here give 

 you an instance or two of the extraordinary length 

 of time terriers M'ill exist without food ; one 

 occurred the other day. I was staying at a 

 friend's house in Hertfordshire, Avho had lost a 

 favourite terrier seven days ; on going out to 

 look at his sporting dogs near the house, he 

 thought he heard the voice of his lost dog. He 

 recollected the last time it was seen was near 

 the mouth of a drain, upwards of tM^o hundred 

 yards from the spot from whence the sound came. 

 He immediately ordered his workmen to open the 

 drain, and they found the terrier jammed in a 

 narrow part of it ; the animal apiiearcd lively, 

 and not the worse for her long fasting, except 

 being a little reduced in flesh, and the next day 

 very lethargic. I heard at the same time a still 

 more extraordinary instance of a terrier remaining 



