JUDICIOUS BREEDING 135 



materially depends. The great criterion of judicious 

 breeding is seen by the number of three-seasoned hounds. 

 If neariy all have stood the test thus far (barring 

 accidents), it is a sure proof of the breeder's judgment ; 

 if the reverse is the case, there is great fault somewhere. 

 In many large kennels the young hounds are all brought 

 in about the same time, and the rejected sent away 

 immediately the first selection has been made by the 

 Master ; and this is the wisest plan to adopt under the 

 circumstances, or to separate them into two divisions, 

 for the larger the number crowded into one kennel, the 

 more virulent will be the distemper. 



My practice was to keep the best bred and most 

 promising puppies at their walks as long as possible, until 

 the hunting season was past, when more attention could 

 be paid to them. The operation of rounding their ears 

 should never be performed until the young hounds have 

 recovered entirely from the effects of distemper, as the 

 loss of blood is sometimes excessive ; and I wish we 

 could dispense with this cruel practice altogether ; yet 

 I know not how it can be avoided with fox-hounds, whose 

 ears, if permitted to remain as nature formed them, 

 would be torn and scratched most severely in thick 

 coverts, where their work first commences. It is a 

 different thing with harriers, which draw in the open 

 field for their game, and have few opportunities of 

 scratching their ears and faces in a stiff blackthorn thicket. 

 The natural resort of the fox is in large woodlands or 

 gorse coverts, and to these he will hold, until forced by 

 his pursuers to face the open country ; and even then, 

 it is with the intention of gaining some other strong 

 tangled thicket or brake, from which he is again compelled 

 to fly, or yield his life. Militat in sylvis catulus is strictly 



