Scent. 



6137 



Scarcely a day in the shooting-season, or the record of a single chase 

 of fox or hare, but affords abundant instances of the kind. " Differ- 

 ence in soil," as Daniel says, in his article on hunting, " alters the 

 scent," and "the enclosure of poor lands in heathy countries some- 

 times renders the scent very difficult for hounds."* But that scent 

 should always fail over one particular field or a part of it, is very 

 remarkable, and, apparently, quite inexplicable. The failure alleged, 

 it should be observed, is totally distinct from failures which often 

 occur in almost any beat in long-continued dry weather. Thus, 

 in one part of a turnip-field where the plant has missed, the surface- 

 soil will be as dry as if baked, to the full depth reached by the horse- 

 hoe ; and here no scent will lie after JO or 11 o'clock on a fine, sunny 

 day. In another part of the same field, however, and close at hand, 

 the scent will be good or strong; because there the turnips have 

 brairded well, and their foliage serves to keep the surface-soil very 

 sensibly damp, even when no rain has fallen for some considerable 

 time past. 



Another fact, which seems almost equally remarkable with that just 

 now mentioned, is perhaps much more easily accounted for. " It is 

 a curious fact," says Mr. St. John, "but one which I have often 

 observed, that dogs frequently pass close to the nest of grouse, 

 partridges, or other game, without scenting the hen-bird as she sits 

 upon her eggs. I knew this year of a partridge's nest which 

 was placed close to a narrow foot-path near my house ; and although 

 not only my people but all my dogs w^ere constantly passing within 

 a foot and a half of the bird, they never found her out, and she 

 hatched her brood in safety." C Highland Sports,' 25). Such 

 instances are by no means rare : I knew of a partridge's nest last year 

 on the bank by the side of a much-frequented lane, and another was 

 mentioned in the communication more than once referred to already, 

 in which were seventeen eggs, both of which nests were repeatedly 

 passed by sporting dogs, but never detected or noticed by them. I 

 believe the apparent scentlessness of the bird in such cases must 

 depend on its utter quiescence ; and it is not easy, anterior to expe- 



* The authority quoted in a former note says: "A marked difference in scent is 

 always apparent in passing over the various strata; and, universally the better the 

 land and the better cultivated, the better the scent. Very poor lands never hold a good 

 scent : a gravelly surfi\ce is by no means the quality for scent, whatever the subsoil : 

 wet, undrained clay land holds a better scent when thoroughly saturated than in any 

 other state ; when perfectly dry, and, it may be, hard, no hound can hold a scent 

 over it " 



XVI, 2 o 



