148 TEST OF A HOUND'S CONDITION 



consistent with good condition, and hounds will thus 

 maintain their strength and power little impaired through 

 the season ; whereas those hurried into work without 

 proper preparation, or reduced too low by their feeding, 

 soon become skeletons only ; and it is a just observation 

 made by Beckford, that *' a half -starved hound is no 

 match for an afternoon fox." 



I was much struck some little time since by the 

 appearance of a very handsome well-bred setter belonging 

 to a genuine sportsman, and formerly a keen fox-hunter, 

 and observing, " Three days a week would not be too 

 much for such a dog," his reply was, " Five days a week 

 are barely sufficient to keep him in good hunting order ; 

 with less, he would become ungovernable." Since then 

 I have had an opportunity of deciding that his opinion 

 of his dog's capabilities was not in the least overrated. 

 He is a strong, bony, muscular animal, with fine head 

 and neck, good shoulders, and straight legs, and no day 

 is too long for him. The pace at which he ranges the 

 field, and the manner in which he clears a gate or a fence, 

 are quite in fox-hound style ; in fact, I cannot help 

 thinking there must have been a cross with the fox-hound 

 in some of his progenitors. This setter, when I first saw 

 him, had been at work for more than two months, 

 averaging four days a week, from nine in the morning 

 until four o'clock in the afternoon, beating over a rough, 

 hilly country, and exhibited the ne plus ultra of condition. 



Some years ago, I remember two pointers belonging 

 to the late Sir Francis Burdett (their sire one of John 

 Warde's fox-hounds) over which I have often shot, and 

 these were equally hard and indomitable, requiring a 

 vast amount of work to be kept steady to their game. 

 Pointers with this cross, although most difficult to break 



