TEST OF A fox-hound's CONDITION. 207 



period in the whole hunting season to a pack of 

 fox-hounds, when more toes are sprung or let down 

 than in any other month of the year. The menses 

 or tracks in woodlands have also to be broken 

 through at the expense of severe laceration to the 

 hounds employed in this service. A blackthorn 

 sticking in one's knee or leg does not cause a very 

 agreeable sensation at any time, although to a 

 sportsman in hard condition it occasions little in- 

 convenience, and may be easily extracted, but in 

 fat or flabby flesh this little thorn would create a 

 considerable amount of inflammation ; and so it is 

 with hounds, if properly prepared they will suffer 

 little from scratches of briars or pricks of thorns. 

 The condition of a fox-hound may be tested by a 

 short, smart gallop over the turf, when if, on being 

 pulled up, his mouth shuts almost immediately, he 

 may be considered very near the mark ; but if, on 

 the contrary, his tongue continues hanging out, he 

 is not fit to go or work. At the commencement of 

 cub -hunting I like to see the frame well covered 

 with sound hard flesh, and the muscles full, which 

 are quite consistent with good condition, and 

 hounds will thus maintain their strength and 

 power little inpaired through the season ; whereas 

 those hurried into work without proper prepara- 

 tion, or reduced too low by their feeding, soon 



