work of that sort. And he runs true, presently, with remarkable

ease.

The southern part of Indiana is typically good fox-hunting country, and it is really a great wonder that not more of it is indulged in. In time it will no doubt come to be a most popular sport. As a country grows older its people take more enthusiastically to riding to the hounds. Over in the East it is a growing sport, and many large packs are to be found. It may be we are yet too primitive here. When we go farther we may want to come back to it, just as we now search about for pieces of old Colonial furniture. Or it may be that the air of rusticity that somehow seems to hang about the ownership of a hound is somewhat embarrassing. Well, by and by such nonsense will give way. Each succeeding generation is broader and more sensible upon the questions. of outdoor sports of all kinds. And cross-country riding will come to be in this State what it might now be and what it ought to be. In Kentucky, with its thoroughbred hounds and its beautiful and skillful riding women and daring and gallant men, riding to the hounds is much indulged in.

Not many good fox hounds are to be found with us. At the bench shows of the Illinois Club I have not seen a really good specimen. So it will continue until there is greater interest taken in this most exhilarating sport. Once the wave breaks over us, it may be expected, from the topography of the southern third of the State so favorably Reynard's habitat, that we'll be completely engulfed.

Inasmuch as a special article on the fox hound has been prepared to follow this, the further discussion is left to it.

The Fox Hound.

By HARRY L. MEANS, late Editor Rod, Gun and Kennel.

There is perhaps no sport in America so generally indulged in, about which such an erroneous impression prevails, as that of foxhunting, as relates to the manner, method and pleasures of the chase; for, to the average person, the pre-requisite essentials to enjoyment in the field after the hounds are a fleet-footed animal descended from equine nobility and a pertinacity in remaining astride while the animal sails over a ten-rail, staked and ridered fence. From the time of Daniel Boone, when the pioneer Kentucky woodsman, with his faithful hound, penetrated the virgin forests of the State, fox-hunting has to the lover of outdoor life in Indiana and Kentucky, as in almost every State in the Union, appealed with a peculiar fancy, which has been augmented with each succeeding generation, until now, when it would be difficult to find a radius of three miles square in which there is not a welltrained pack of hounds. But, while England may lay claim to having first chased Reynard, and at a time when only the Redskins inhabited this continent-for hunting in this country is vastly different from that in England, as there, only the titled nobility with sufficient means and influence to purchase the hunting privileges from the cultivators of the lands can enjoy it-the American, however meager may be his income, can usually put aside enough to provide half a dozen hounds with a diet of baked cornbread at least once a day, and find recluse and enjoyment on top of a rail fence at night, while his dogs chase the fox across fields and down valleys. To him it is the quintessence of enjoyment; a precipitation into sweet oblivion, to which the mellowest notes

of "Coming Through the Rye," from one of Patti's farewell tours, would be a discord.

The National Fox-Hunters' Association of America had its beginning in Kentucky, although it has officers residents of many other States, and its membership extends from Maine to California. The object of the association is the development of the fox hound, and the improvement of their speed and hunting qualities. Fox hounds differ as regards these qualities as do race-horses, and in the last dozen years there has been a wonderful improvement, although, in increasing the speed of the dogs, the "tongue," that is, the music made by the pack, has been somewhat sacrificed, and, instead of the deep-tongued, resonant music, such as the oldtime hound of the long-eared variety used to emit, the "cry" is now more shrill, sometimes quivering and indicative of the speed at which the dog is getting over the ground. But the well-bred pack of today will catch foxes out in the open, while the reds only play in keeping out of the way of the black and tan, with ears that would extend around their noses. Formerly Indiana, Kentucky and other parts of the South had the grey fox almost exclusively, while those of the red variety were seldom seen; but now it has been entirely reversed, and it is a rare thing that a grey is seen in Indiana, Kentucky and in many other parts of the South. The red fox, it is thought, is responsible for their extermination, for the grey is smaller, and, unless he takes to earth, can not live an hour before a well-trained pack. The grey fox usually inhabits thickets and briar patches, and affords but little more sport than a rabbit to a fleet-footed pack, although the fox hound, after once trained, will not cry a rabbit, and will only reluctantly run grey foxes.

In color the better bred fox hound of today is spotted, black, white and tan, with a thick coat of hair, rather short ears as compared to the slow-going black and tan of years ago, although the black and tan and red dogs are by no means uncommon. A pack usually consists of from six to fifteen dogs, for when that number is exceeded it is almost impossible to get them of a uniform speed, and when they are once scattered or strung out, the pleasure of the