202 
PASSIONAL ZOOLOGY, 
the freezes, again from February till April ; but females are preg- 
nant from early in February, and should be respected. The best 
wind for the hare hunt is neither very raw or dry ; the best 
ground that of heath and waste lands, a firm sandy soil, where 
the water does not remain. 
Argillaceous earths, especially white clay ; vineyard land, 
strongly manured and soggy, make the hunter and dogs des- 
perate. When you wish to purchase a pack of hare hounds, 
try it, if possible, in such places, and do not quarrel about the 
price if they pass this trial honorably ; but do not be too quickly 
fascinated by the most brilliant conduct across heaths, stubble, 
and brushwood. 
To all the difficulties proceeding from the atmosphere, and from 
the nature of the soil, add the manifold tricks of the animal, and 
you will understand the reason of the high esteem in which the 
amateur holds the hare hunt. I esteem the perfect hare dog 
equal in value to the best wolf dog. The latter only needs blood, 
a hamstring, and courage ; the former also a bit of genius, besides 
the love of the thing, the passion of the artist. No one knows 
what ingenious combinations, and learned calculations, a hare 
hound enters into in guessing some new stratagem. I was two 
years in Burgundy, at the head of six running dogs which hunted 
only the liare^ and forced nine out of ten within three or four 
hours, in every wind that could blow, and whom I respected too 
much to help them with my gun. At most, did I allow myself 
to bring them the concurrence of my experience when they were 
at fault. 
They were small and delicately framed ; not at all striking in 
their appearance, but real treasures for their hamstrings, for per- 
severance, and keeping the track. Why has God, who has given 
man but one friend, the dog, not equalized the duration of their 
lives, that at the end of their career the two friends might be 
inclosed in the same tomb ? 
A very sensible person, in whose presence I once expressed this 
painful regret, observed that if the dog lived eighty years, like 
man, and was the same proportion of this time in developing his 
intelligence, it would perhaps be he who would hold us in lease. 
