204 NUMBER OF HOUNDS IN A PACK. 



And slily creeps through the same beaten track, 

 And hunts them step by step, their views escaped, 

 With inward ecstasy, the panting throng 

 In their own footsteps puzzled, foiled, and lost." 



My doctrine, therefore, as to sixteen or eighteen 

 couples being ample to kill any fox, backed by 

 these authorities (and Beckford, I believe, also), is 

 clearly no novelty, although my practice in this 

 respect resulted from actual observation and ex- 

 perience ; for having when in my teens commenced 

 hunting the fox with a lot of hounds — under 

 twelve couples for my first season — the good luck 

 attending my dehut in the field with this short 

 complement taught me one great and necessary 

 lesson in fox-hunting, which was my guide in after 

 years — that success does not depend on numbers. 

 As to feeding my hounds twice after a hard day's 

 work, I can adduce authority for that also, from 

 "TheNoble Science," to show that others agree with 

 me in thinking that hounds ought, not to be fed at 

 once, by which some are sent gorged, whilst others 

 are sent empty, to bed, just to suit an idle hunts- 

 man's convenience, or save him a little extra 

 trouble. Mr. Delme RadclifFe thus expresses him- 

 self on the subject : — 



" The feeding of hounds, as regards their condi- 



