Young hounds should always be train ed to some particular branch of sporting, and not be suffered, as is too often the case, to hunt either foxes or hares, as chance may present; such dogs are always unsteady and unmanageable. En ter the pups at a year old, if possible, in a country where the runs are not severe ; but always have an eye to training them in a close or open country, according as that part is where they are permanently to hunt : for a dog taken from an open to a close country, or vice versa, will never hunt with so much spirit as those trained on the spot.
It is remarkable that hares run hardest, and puzzle most, at the full of the moon ; they nave always more scent in going to, than front, their forms ; both because they are then warmer, and because they usually approach their seats slower than they quit them : but a hare generally springs into hi r form from some distance. When the huntsman is certain of a hare in any particular covert, he should lead his dogs compactly thereto, and give her the chance of going off with all advan tage : he must never baulk her by cross ing her usual sortie, for in such case she would be dismayed, and give but little sport. It is, indeed, usually best to alarm the hare by the gradual appreach of the pack, which she will soon wind, or hear, and thus to give her a fair start, that she may go off deliberately, and not be blown by an early view.
Hares generally make a circular tour ; and, for the mosrpart, endeavour to re turn to their haunts. Hence many a fine chase has been Seen from a rising ground. It sometimes happens that a bare "flies the country t" that is, goes off straight : when this happens, the hare is generally a rambler from some other covert, and exerts all her speed to re turn thereto. The first ring a hare makes ordinarily shows where the chase will lay ; for all her endeavours will be exert ed to double upon her former track, and to cross the scent, so asto throw the dogs out. Such is the cunning of this animal, that it will, when close pursued, leap into high bushes, and remain there, althouich surrounded by dogs and huntsmen : to this manner many escape. We have heard of a hare leaping into a road-wag gon, and thus evading her followers com pletely. Some, when running against the wind, stop short, and after allowing the hounds to pass, return secretly to their forms : this trick succeeds best when the dogs are fresh and impetuous.
The limits of our work not allowing us to enter upon all the minutia of hare hunting, we- must conclude this part of our subject with observing, that the most successthl huntsmen always make the least noise, and not only keep others back, but invariably allow a good interval between the dogs and their own horses.
By this means they often discover those tricks which a hare is apt to practise, and which with less cautious persons very generally insure her safety.
Fox-hunting is a diversion requiring considerable powers, both in the rider and in his steed : the extent of ground traversed on some occasions, and that too at more than a moderate pace, esta blishes the necessity for a rare combina tion of strength, activity, courage, and perseverance, in those who follow this laborious sport.
There are three varieties of fox with us, all differing in form, but not in colour ; except the cur-fox, the tip of whose tail is black. They are distinguished by the names of the greyhound-fox, which is the tallest and boldest, is found chiefly in the mountainous parts of England and Scot land, and will attack a full grown sheep. The mastiff-fox is rather less, but his limbs are strongly formed ; his shape is altogether more compact, and he is per haps as stout as the species above men tioned : this varlet) is not very common. The' kind mostly found by sportsmen is the cur-fox, which, though of smaller stature than either of the foregoing, is most pernicious to game, and infests all places where poultry, or any animals it can master, are kept. All foxes are pe culiarly alarmed by the discharge of fire arms, and quit those earths which smell of gunpower : hence, fumigating with sulphur is resorted to as the certain means of expulsion. When pressed by hunger, foxes will eat snails, slugs, bee tles, berries of various kinds, crabs, shrimps, &c. and sometimes carrion ; but they prefer warm flesh, and that too of their own killing.
The fox knows how to secure a good asylum, either by digging holes, or by following crevices among rocks, roots of trees, &c. with many apertures, so as to favour escape, or entrance, when in danger ; or, eventually, he steals into the den of some badger, occasioning that animal to quit it, and then enlarges, or alters, the interior according to his own fancy. When chased, he generally flies the country to some strong covert, en deavouring to shelter himself in some other earths ; in which, however, he can not remain when heated with running ; but he sometimes succeeds by swimming across streams, or by climbing trees, or to the tops of barns, &c. Sometimes, though not often, he will lead back to his own earths, where he may expect certain death.