CHAPTER XV 



How to construct a Kennel for Harriers. — Eight Ck)uples form a 

 sufficient Pack. — A brief Disquisition on Reason and Instinct. — 

 Distinctive Features of Harriers and Fox-hounds. — Fox-hounds 

 unsuited to hunt Hares. — Objections to the old Breed of Harriers* 



As few men would purchase a horse without having a 

 stable to put him into, so must a kennel of some sort be 

 prepared to receive a pack of harriers. I have seen very 

 extraordinary places appropriated to this purpose ; the 

 end of an old bam or stable, a pig-sty, or ruinous old 

 cottage no longer tenantable by human beings, by aid of 

 a few props to the main beams, converted into a kennel. 

 Passing by such makeshifts, I will take it for granted 

 that the person who seriously asks me for information 

 respecting the duties of a huntsman to a pack of harriers 

 would make suitable arrangements for the reception of 

 animals in which I am led to conclude he takes an especial 

 interest. 



The cost of erecting two small lodging-rooms, with a 

 boiling-house at the back, would not be very great ; in 

 short, where materials are moderately cheap, it need not 

 exceed twenty pounds. The dimensions must, of course, 

 depend upon the strength of the pack — and that, again, 

 will depend upon the taste or fancy of the Master — some 

 men, glorying in the melodious cry of a full body of hounds, 

 say from fourteen to sixteen couples ; others maintaining 

 that half that number are quite sufficient for the purpose 

 on which alone they are bent — of killing every hare they 

 find. 



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