THE FOXHOUND. 57 



most remarkable manner, and to such an extent that individual 

 hounds belonging to the packs, when left behind in covert, thread 

 through two or three hundred horsemen and get to the front 

 without injury. This requires a high combination of speed, 

 courage, and judgment, which ordinary hounds do not possess, , 

 and they would be sure either to be too slow, or too timid, or too 

 stupid, to seize the right moment to overcome each successive 

 obstacle. Speed is of course a sine qua non for success in such a 

 feat, but it likewise requires high courage to risk being ridden 

 over, and with this must be combined judgment to make a push 

 at the right moment, and to wait patiently till it occurs. 



In looking at the modern foxhound, the uninitiated are apt to 

 be misled by the " rounded " ears, which detract very much from 

 his artistic appearance. Compared with the bloodhound's long 

 sweeping appendages, the small semi-oval attached to the head 

 of the foxhound looks mean, and detracts from his dignity and 

 bearing. But in actual work it enables him to drive his way 

 through gorse and thorns with much less injury to his ears, 

 though without the advantage to the eyes which is supposed to 

 accrue by some writers. How it can be imagined that an organ 

 which hangs, when at rest, at some distance behind the eyes, 

 should protect them from injury in driving the head forward 

 through gorse or thorns, I am quite at a loss to know ; but such is 

 the extent to which certain theorists have gone. The fact really 

 is, that experience teaches the huntsman to remove all super- 

 fluous parts which he finds liable to be torn in covert, at the 

 same time taking care not to lose such as are advantageous. He 

 knows that a most essential organ to keeping his pack together 

 is that of hearing, by means of which every individual hound 

 judges of the first whimper heard in " drawing " whether or not it 

 is reliable, and owns it or not as he thinks' right. Again, he 



