get shy and frightened by hallooing, and though stout and equal to any, never leave the cover alive.

Our author condemns the modern practice of gentlemen riding with whips that have no thongs. A smack of a whip will not only, he says, stop or turn a pack on a wrong scent, but save the lives of many hounds who happen to be in the way of horses.

On the subject of riding to hounds, Mr. Smith has the following instructive passage :

"One of the first things for a man to acquire in riding to hounds, is an eye to hounds; that is, in chase always to keep his eye on the leading hound, which he will easily distinguish from the pack by observing that the moment the leading hound (or hounds, but generally only one) catches the scent, he drops his stern as straight as a tobaccopipe, and the stern of the other hound which had it the moment before will rise. It often happens that several get it when the scent is pretty good, and if so, it will be easier to see it. By observing this, he turns his horse's head as he sees the hounds turn, and gains a great advantage over those men who look only at the body of the pack, and who go beyond where it is necessary for their horse to go. A man with a good eye to hounds will beat others who have not, although much better mounted than himself, and at times save his horse much distance, and deep ground."

Again-" If men would pay attention to the cry of hounds, when running in cover, instead of riding in to the end of the ride without listening, merely because when they started the hounds were going in that direction, they would often save their horses much work; for, on listening, they would find that the hounds had turned in another direction."

By attending to these matters it is that, Mr. Smith thinks, old sportsmen so often beat men of the present day; they were, he says, "properly entered to fox-hunting, and taught to depend on their own eyes and ears. Thus when a fox, after being run, gets to a large cover, where there is an earth stopped at the further end, or the country is too open to make it probable that the fox will face it, the old sportsman pulls up and listens to the cry, and in most cases the hounds bring the fox back to him whilst he is standing still, and his horse is recovering his wind.”

On riding at fences, the following advice is excellent: "Men who are not acquainted with the grass countries, where the fences consist of live quick and thorns, will do well to notice, when a hedge is cut, which way it is laid down to the top, and put his horse at it obliquely, with his head from the root of the thorn, and the top of the thorn being weak will give way to the horse's legs; but if he goes straight against it, he stands a good chance of a fall; and if he goes obliquely on the contrary plan, he reduces his fall to a certainty should the horse not clear any strong plasher, which rises when the horse's knees are under it--but not so the other way."

The above advice is good, but the experiment of putting the horse obliquely at a large fence with a wide ditch on the landing side must not be pushed too far, because it much increases the space to be cleared in the first place; and in the next, the horse cannot go so near to his fence before he rises, as when put straight at it. Neither would

such a method of putting horses at fences suit all tempers; some horses would swerve if not allowed to go straight.

I have more than once observed that there is more luck in foxhunting than in a game of chance, and the following passage from Mr. Smith's pen proves my assertion: "A real good run seldom occurs, and when it does, it is seldom duly appreciated; for to get one requires so many circumstances combined. First, a good fox; then a good find and a good scent; then a good country, good luck, &c. The chances against it-first, a bad scent; bad fox; bad find; not getting well away with him; and a hundred accidental circumstances to bring them to a check without being over-ridden; the fox is headed by an old woman, or even a child of four years old may spoil a run; a dog, pig, sheep, cattle, cross-roads, false halloos, changing foxes-in short, no end to chances. But when there is not a good scent, more mischief is done by over-riding than by all other obstacles put together..... There are men who will pass the first man when he pulls up at a check, and they are the men who do the mischief, on whom the huntsman or master of the hounds should keep an eye. He (query, they) forces the first man on amongst the hounds at a check, and drives them beyond it, when up come lots of horses smoking like steam engines, on the very spot where the hounds fire threw up, and where the fox headed, or turned short to the right or left." Mr. Smith asserts that in following hounds through covers when being drawn (he alludes to the best chance, he says, of getting well away), if the rider has nerve enough to let his horse's head entirely loose, he will never stub himself. No man's authority is better here than Mr. Smith's, for a better man to go through a cover quickly I never saw.

Our author recommends a man not to press his horse too much for the first mile or so, when a fox runs up wind, for if he turns down wind he will gain ground by turning inside of the chase; and should the fox keep on up wind, he is not likely to be thrown out, as he will be able to hear the hounds.

Mr. Smith shows us, and from his own experience of the plan, how a man may have perfect hunters even before the horses have ever seen a hound, or had a saddle on their backs. He thus writes: "As soon as the colt is weaned, when turned out they (query, he) of course have always a shed or stable to lay in, where they are also fed. A few yards in front of the door of the stable begin by making a slight fence, about the height of the colt's knees, which he will walk over to get to his corn; when he is quite used to this, raise the fence six inches or more, sufficient to make him rear up and get his fore legs over, and he will soon find it easier to jump over than draw over his hind legs; when he does this freely, raise it still higher, till he is obliged to make a good standing leap over it every time he goes into the shed to be fed. This last should be a single rail. When he is perfect at this, which he will be in the course of a month, then dig a ditch, and throw up a bank with the earth, instead of the rail, or by the side of it, which rail should be made higher, to prevent his preferring it to the ditch, and he will first walk into the ditch, then get his fore legs on the bank and the hinder legs on the other side of the ditch, but in the course of a day or two he will quietly jump on the bank; after being perfect in this, have another ditch on the other side of the bank, and he will

104 NIMROD'S ANALYSIS OF THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN."

jump on and off in a few days as well as any hunter. The writer has a thorough-bred colt at this time, only nine months old, which is as perfect at all sorts of fences as the best hunter.

Some of your readers may remember my having described a plan something similar to this put into practice by that celebrated sportsman of the west, Mr. Templar. But he did not commence with such young animals as Mr. Smith does; to whose plan, in that respect, there may be an objection in the chances of injury from blows against the rail, or strains, to such young and tender limbs.

Touching mischief done to farmers by men following hounds, Mr. Smith has some very useful remarks. For example: he condemns gentlemen for riding over young tares, seeds, &c., when there is a path within two yards of them, and this just for the sake of being able to join their friend, or friends, in conversation. Assuredly in no country but sporting England would farmers stand a tithe of what they do here in having their land ridden over, even in chase, although the mischief done is infinitely less than might be looked for; and Mr. Smith shows that they are more than recompensed for it in other ways. "For example," says he, "supposing two hundred horses are kept (for the purpose of hunting) which would not otherwise be kept, they would consume, for eight months only in the year, 2,400 quarters of oats, and 390 tons of hay!"

Whether all his readers may be of his opinion is more than I can determine; but our author says game preservers should be thankful to have their covers drawn by foxhounds, early in the season especially "when they do an immense deal of good towards the preservation of pheasants and hares. By working the covers, they open the runs and tracks used by the pheasants so wide, that a single snare or wire, or even several, will not catch them; but before the tracks were open, every pheasant that came was sure to be caught, and equally so with hares. Poachers, indeed, have often been heard to say that a pack of foxhounds is the greatest enemy they have."

This chapter concludes with our author's advice to game preservers who do not wish to destroy foxes. "Men who have keepers, and who wish well to fox-hunting, by ordering them to set their traps for vermin in a peculiar way, will catch them without touching a fox. But the excuse is, that traps which are baited with rabbits, as they say, for small vermin, often catch foxes; indeed, more foxes than anything else. Instead, therefore, of baiting the trap in the usual way, by placing the bait on the ground under the trap, which is covered over, the proper plan for catching small vermin is to set the trap in a low place, as before; then fasten the bait on a forked stick, about two feet long, and the other end should be stuck in the ground, leaving the bait on it, about twelve inches high over the trap, when every weasel or pole-cat will come to it, and, in reaching to get the bait, are certain to be caught; but if a fox comes, he takes the bait without stepping on the trap, as he winds the trap and reaches over it."

Ten pages are now devoted to a classification of proper hunting terms: and then follow two portraits of fox-hounds-one a perfect, the other an imperfect one-as a frontispiece to Chapter the Sixth, which treats of foxhounds.

(To be continued.)

NOTITIA VENATICA.

BY R. T. VYNER, ESQ.

The best time to feed hounds during the summer months is about three or four o'clock in the afternoon. Some huntsmen feed much later, on account of the hounds resting more quietly during the night; but, if they are to be taken out to exercise by daybreak, as they ought to be, three or four o'clock in the afternoon is quite late enough for the feeding hour, as they have then time to digest their food sufficiently before the next day. When the puppies first come up from their quarters, they should be fed two or three times a day, unless they are very high in flesh and likely to grow too large for the pack; but, as they advance in their education and condition, and the effects of the distemper begin to wear off, they should be taught to feed only once in the day. A dog is almost a carnivorous animal; and, as he is, like all animals of that description, enabled by nature to go many hours without food, so also is his stomach formed to contain at one meal sufficient for at least one day's digestion, without feeling his strength and vigour impaired in the same degree as the horse would, or any other graminivorous beast. Although dogs are, undoubtedly speaking, naturally carnivorous, we sometimes meet with accounts of their living in nearly a natural state on fish and even vegetables. In Siberia their chief food consists of fish, and we may also read that, in the islands of the Pacific Ocean, dogs are bred up on vegetables, and would not eat flesh, when offered them by our circumnavigators. Hounds should never be allowed to eat to satiety; Sir B. Graham, who at one time himself performed the office of feeder, and whose authority on matters relating to feeding and kennel management was never doubted for a moment, considered it as most injurious to condition, to allow them to fill themselves at the trough. It is the custom of some huntsmen during the hunting season to draw those hounds which look thin, and give them some meat in the afternoon. I must confess it is a system I do not admire: a hound fed at three or four o'clock in an afternoon is totally unfit to run a burst at eleven o'clock the next morning. It is a much better plan to make such as will not feed one day wait till the next; by that means they soon learn to feed at a proper hour as they ought to do. When animals reject their food, depend upon it there is a good reason for it; and nothing is so good for the stomach, when disordered, as a little fasting: such was the system pursued by the great Napoleon, who preferred it to taking medicine when unwell. When hounds whose constitutions are delicate become a little below the mark, the better plan is to let them miss one day's hunting; by that means they

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will gain more vigour than by overloading their stomachs with food, which will do them more good when it is on their backs than it will when it is inside their ribs. If you wish your hounds to run well up, and at the same time to be stout in an afternoon, keep them high in condition, always feed thick, proportioning the quantity to the work, and never later than nine o'clock in the forenoon, even eight o'clock is better. Some wiseacres fancy that a hound fed at three or four in the evening will be stouter at the end of the day; but it is ridiculous to suppose that a carnivorous animal like a foxhound can ever feel distress from want of food during thirty-six hours, provided he is well fed at other regular and stated periods. Mr. Warde, whose grand amusement in the latter part of his long hunting career consisted chiefly in drawing and feeding his hounds, was a great advocate for a little afternoon stuffing; and, when inspecting the pack for the following day's work, would frequently draw such as he considered too fast for the rest at three o'clock, and give them what he termed "stopping-balls," composed of oatmeal and barley-flour, mixed with flesh, and rolled up. But Berkshire was a slow and cold-scenting country, and the pace was not expected to be quite so good as it is upon grass. His huntsman, William Neverd, was quite of a different opinion on the subject, and told me he thought they would have done much better if his master had given the "slow 'uns" some quicksilver balls instead. In looking over hounds some four or five hours after they have been fed, it is impossible to form a correct judgment of the quantity of food they may have eaten, or what their appearance and condition may be at ten o'clock the next morning. Some digest quicker than others do: Rallywood, whose sides appear as if he were only just fed, at two o'clock, may not have eaten any more than Vanquisher, who looks at that hour almost fit to run a burst, yet by the cover-side the next morning they will both look as "level as dice," and the food of both of them will be upon their backs, instead of inside their bellies, which it would have been had they been fed at three or four o'clock in the afternoon of the day before. Some whose digestion is weak void their food nearly in the same state as they swallow it; and many, from the same cause, are constantly in the habit of throwing part of their meat off immediately after feeding it is quite curious to see how such hounds are continually watched by the others, to whom they are as well known as the pieman would be, near the gates of a school; for what purpose I leave my readers to guess. When hounds are moved out after feeding, they should be walked about very slowly, and allowed to empty themselves at their own pleasure, or many will throw off part of their meat. And when the pack are going to be taken from home to be ready for the next day's hunting, they ought to be fed at least three hours before starting. When hounds lose their appetites, and when they are in the habit of throwing off part of their meat immediately after feeding, it is a certain sign that the digestive organs are impaired; this frequently happens to puppies when recovering from the effects of the distemper, and even the older ones, whose constitutions are none of the strongest, are at times afflicted with dyspepsia; it arises generally from too great an acidity in the contents of the