There is a good deal to be said for taking your hounds frequently into the mountains; not so much for taking them on to cultivated land. (25) And for this reason: the fells offer facilities for hunting and for following the quarry without interruption, while cultivated land, owing to the number of cross roads and beaten paths, presents opportunities for neither. Moreover, quite apart from finding a hare, it is an excellent thing to take your dogs on to rough ground. It is there they will become sound of foot, and in general the benefit to their physique in working over such ground will amply repay you. (26) (25) Or, "pretty often, and less frequently over." (26) Lit. "they must be benefited in their bodies generally by working over such ground." They should be taken out in summer till mid-day; in winter from sunrise to sundown; in autumn any time except mid-day; and in spring any time before evening. These times will hit the mean of temperature. (27) (27) Or, "You may count on a moderate temperature at these times." V The tracks of hares are long in winter owing to the length of night, and short for the opposite reason during summer. In winter, however, their scent does not lie in early morning, when the rime is on the ground, or earth is frozen. (1) The fact is, hoar frost by its own inherent force absorbs its heat, whilst black frost freezes it. (2) (1) Or, "when there is hoar frost or black frost" (lit. "ice"). (2) Or, "the ice congeals them," "encases as it were in itself the heat," i.e. the warm scent; aliter, "causes the tracks to freeze at the top." The hounds, moreover, with their noses nipped by the cold, (3) cannot under these conditions (4) use their sense of smell, until the sun or the mere advance of day dissolves the scent. Then the noses of the hounds recover, and the scent of the trail begins to exhale itself perceptibly. (5) (3) Reading {malkiosai}, Cobet, "N. Lect." 131. "Mnem." 3, 306; Rutherford, "N. Phry." p. 135. = "nipped, or numb with cold." For vulg. {malakiosai} = "whose noses are tender," see Lenz ad loc. (4) Lit. "when the tracks are in this case." (5) As it evaporates. Aliter, "is perceptible to smell as it is wafted by the breeze to greet them."