Page:Cynegetica.djvu/85

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Hare Hunting.
69

ther ſeaſon, when the air is light, or growing lighter, the ſcent muſt proportionably be falling or ſinking, and then every Dog, though, in the height of his courage, he puſhes forwards, yet is forced to come back again and again, and cannot make any ſure advances, but with his noſe in the ground. When circumſtances are thus, (if there be not a ſtorm of thunder impending to corrupt the ſcent, as I ſaid before,) you may expect the moſt curious and laſting ſport; Puſs having then a fair opportunity to ſhew her wiles, and every old or ſlow Dog to come in for his ſhare, to diſplay his experience, the ſubtilty of his judgment, and the tenderneſs of his noſtrils. The moſt terrible day for the Hare is, when the air is in its mean gravity, or equilibrio, tolerable moiſt, but inclining to grow drier, and fanned with the gentle breezes of the zephyrs: the moderate gravity buoys up the ſcent as high as the Dog's breaſt; the veſicles of moiſture ſerve as ſo many canals, or vehicles, to carry the effluvia into their noſes; and the gentle fannings help, in ſuch wiſe, to ſpread and diſſipate them, that every

F3
Hound,