24 OBSERVATIONS ON FOX-HUNTING 



bones, plaister of Paris, &c., is it not natural to 

 suppose that oatmeal also may have it's share of 

 these pernicious ingredients ? You ought there- 

 fore to be very particular in getting good meal ; 

 the Irish is the best, and the most likely to be 

 genuine. 



It is quite certain a hound too high in condition 

 cannot run a bvu-st, neither can a poor half-starved 

 one kill an ajternoon Fox ; a hound therefore 

 cannot be considered as fit to be brouglit out if 

 he is cither too high or too low. I like to see 

 their ribs, but their loins should be well filled 

 up, and they should be hollow in their flanks : 

 he that is full in the flanks is sure to be fat in 

 the inside, and consequently not fit for work. 

 The feeding of hounds, and the bringing them to 

 cover able to run a burst, or kill an afternoon 

 Fox, is not altogether a thing so very easy as 

 some people imagine ; in fact, it requires nearly 

 as much trouble to get a hound into condition, 

 as it does a horse ; and if the greatest attention 

 is not paid to this particular, you cannot expect 

 to catch many Foxes. It is the condition of a 

 hound, which gi^TS him the advantage over the 

 animal he hunts. Nevertheless their constitutions 

 differ as much as those of the hvmian species ; 

 some require tliick food, others thin ; the same 

 quantity which may be requisite for Ranter, if 



