I 



FOX-HUNTING IN VIRGINIA. 629 



tlemen, will be able to sell them for '* big money." To go 

 further with the technical description of the hunting-hoi se, 

 in this place, would lead out of bounds. We must turn 

 our attention to the pack, and then to tlie hunt. 



Less than three couples of hounds can scarcely be called a 

 pack. Some persons fancy odd numbers, and would prefer 

 a pack of thirteen hounds to one of fourteen or of twelve. 

 More than thirteen hounds are, in my judgment, too many 

 to run well together, or to be kept well in hand. I have 

 seen thirty couples in a chase, but not more than nine of 

 the best hounds did the real running. A gentlemaii of 

 moderate means will find that six or seven hounds, well 

 trained and kept, will afford better sport than will a greater 

 number than can be well used. 



One of the most beautiful and exciting chases I remem- 

 ber ever to have witnessed, w^as made by a couple of l)lack- 

 and-tan sjjayed bitches. In a run of about forty minutes, 

 they killed a fine Red Fox, which for three miles was not 

 over five to fifteen feet in front of them; nor was there for 

 that distance, at any time, three lengths between the bitches. 

 This X)air — little sisters — owned by my father, were certainly 

 the fastest pair of hounds he ever owned in forty years' 

 devotion to hounds and to Fox-hunting. Running with 

 the pack, they always led, frequently running neck-and- 

 neck thirty or forty yards in advance of the pack. They 

 were named Juno and Vanity, and each of them was 

 known, in several instances, to start, run, and kill a fine 

 Red Fox alone. 



It may be said, then, that a single hound may catch a 

 Fox; a pair of hounds, if of the very best breeding and 

 training, may afford good S2)ort; that six ci >• \en make a 

 nice pack; and that the best number is lliirit'cii. These, 

 three neighboring gentlemen may own and kccj^) l»etween 

 them, wlien they will do quite as well, or even better, than 

 wlien all kept in one kennel. Spayed bitches are to be 

 highly recommended, if spayed when not more than two 

 to six weeks old, which is the best time, for they do not 

 exhibit the tendency to become fat and lazy which results 



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