6136 



Scent. 



from statements and deductions made above, the scent probably pro- 

 ceeds from the entire body ; and that it depends in any perceptible 

 degree npon the breath of the animal is scarcely probable in any. 

 point of view, and is, besides, as it seems to me, negatived by 

 the feeble or scanty, indeed inappreciable, amoimt of scent which 

 seems to be given off by the perfectly quiescent animal. One reason 

 for thinking that some scent, however small in quantity, is given off 

 by the foot, — while the bulk, under ordinary circumstances, depends 

 greatly on the surrounding herbage for its fixation, if I may so 

 express it, — is that I have often seen a good dog hunt a freshly 

 moved rabbit or hare for a few paces over the snow, evidently taking 

 up the scent from the very recently imprinted footsteps. But no dog 

 can hunt either feathered or four-footed game in the snow, even for 

 ten yards, by the nose, except in so far as has just been mentioned. 

 Probably the causes to which scent seems mainly to be due being in 

 very feeble operation in frosty weather and when the snow lies deep 

 on the ground, but little scent is emitted, and that little finds 

 no absorbent surface to receive it, and may very possibly be destroyed 

 or neutralised by the low temperature of the stratum of the atmos- 

 phere which lies in contact with the snowy surface. 



I have been told, and it is stated in, I believe, Johnson's ^ Shooter's 

 Companion,' that there are some fields or parts of fields where scent 

 invariably fails. A field near Pods Wood, at Layer Marney, in 

 Essex, was mentioned several years since to the gentleman, of whose 

 communications I have already availed myself more than once in this 

 paper, by the master of hounds hunting that country, as one over 

 which the hounds could never carry the scent ; and the remark was 

 corroborated on another occasion by a resident in the district, who 

 was in the habit of frequently riding to the hounds when the meet 

 permitted. He said there was no perceptible difference between that 

 field and others, either as to soil or other characteristics. That scent 

 may be cold, and only carried with great difficulty in particular 

 places and on particular occasions, is nothing new or strange. 



been known to pick out the sheep of his master's flock when by any chance they had 

 become intermingled wiih those of another. And il would be very difficult to prove 

 that the power of smell did not at the least aid in this astonishing- achievement. And 

 on other grounds it is not hard to have to admit that the dog hunts ihe horse rather 

 than the man ; for the quadruped is, as a companion, nearly as familiar to him as the 

 biped. Indeed, the mere sight of the saddle or bridle is often the only invitation the 

 dog requires to take part in the projected excursion. 



