THE HOUR OF FEEDING. 171 



best coverts to prevent the foxes being destroyed ; 

 to which he consented, hunting as before, four 

 days a-week, with half the usual complement of 

 hounds — sixteen couples being all he could muster 

 at the place of meeting ; but the result was the 

 very best season's sport he had ever had. The 

 hounds were highly fed to keep them up to the 

 mark, and had never shown themselves to such 

 advantage before. Although " the more the mer- 

 rier," the feio make the better cheer, and a large 

 body of hounds in the field is truly a very use- 

 less incumbrance, often marring instead of making 

 sport. I had as much fun when, as a lad, I 

 could muster only eight couples at the covert side, 

 as I had in after-life when accompanied by 

 eighteen. 



The usual hour of feeding hounds in most ken- 

 nels now being about eleven o'clock, they will 

 naturally be sharp-set before hunting the following 

 morning, and, in my opinion^ anything but in a fit 

 state to endure severe work ; and this long absti- 

 nence, concluding they are not fed till six o'clock 

 the same evening, cannot fail to be prejudicial to 

 the health and constitutions of fox-hounds, and 

 one of the principal causes of their premature de- 

 cline. Thin oatmeal porridge is of easy digestion 

 for the stomach of a dog, without the addition of 



