hounds that you may be heard by huntsman or pack, and so lead them on the line that the halloo proceeds from. I repeat, however, that these and similar aids must be offered with due discretion. The halloo may be a false one--true, but had you gone to make inquiries, you, too, would have been out of hearing--the points of fox-hunting require temporary and local adaptation, and a headpiece to direct all. Mere physical endowments will never make an accomplished fox-hunter--combined with judgment they are very excellent subsidiaries: for him who would shine in the chase “Orandum est, ut sit mens sana in corpore sano.” In riding to hounds it will essentially serve you if you bear in mind what ninety-nine out of a hundred seem never to give a thought to, namely, that the pack only acts _pro tanto_ upon the line of country which a fox is likely to take. Independent of the point which it is assumed he will make for, he has a hundred other things to avoid, as well as the enemies baying on his trail. He settles his point, but he must also get to it unseen. Unless beaten and all but run into, he will give a wide berth to any thing like the habitation of man as well as man himself. Thus, by keeping your eye well before you, there is a chance that the turn hounds will take may be so far anticipated, that you avoid riding outside of their circle. It has been well said that when hounds are running, a man ought to consider what, under the circumstances in which things happen to be, be would do were he the fox. I cannot offer you better counsel. By adopting such a principle you will be enabled to foresee a check should you detect any thing in the line that the chase is taking, however far ahead--and if you have a knowledge of the country, you will calculate such chances almost to a certainty. In a district with which you are acquainted, the line a fox takes when found, will enable you to judge whether he has been before hunted, and if he has, the odds are he runs the same again. Even in cover you may fairly assume that he is accustomed to be stirred by the ring he takes, the points he tries, the gaps he uses in the fences, and similar observations, which should be the business on which you are intent from the moment the hounds are thrown in.