4.10
It is also well to take the hounds out into rough ground, whether they find a hare or not; for they get sound in the feet, and hard work in such country is good for their bodies.
4.11
In summer they should be out till midday, in winter at any hour of the day, in autumn at any time except midday, and before evening during the spring; for at these times the temperature is mild.
5.1
The scent of the hare lies long in winter owing to the length of the nights, and for a short time in summer for the opposite reason. In the winter, however, there is no scent in the early morning whenever there is a white frost or the earth is frozen hard. For both white and black frost hold heat; since the one draws it out by its own strength, and the other congeals it.
5.2
The hounds’ noses, too, are numbed by the cold, and they cannot smell when the tracks are in such a state until the tracks thaw in the sun or as day advances. Then the dogs can smell and the scent revives.
5.3
A heavy dew, again, obliterates scent by carrying it downwards; and storms, occurring after a long interval, draw smells from the groundἄγειν τῆς γῆς has no parallel in Greek prose: perhaps ἐκ has fallen out or τὴν γῆν should be read. and make the earth bad for scent until it dries. South winds spoil scent, because the moisture scatters it, but north winds concentrate and preserve it, if it has not been previously dissolved.
5.4
Heavy showers drown it, and so does light rain, and the moon deadens it by its warmth,Or deadens the heat if we read τὸ θερμόν with Gesner. But the Greeks did attribute heat to the moon. especially when at the full. Scent is most irregular at that time, for the hares, enjoying the light, fling themselves high in the air and jump a long way, frolicking with one another; and it becomes confused when foxes have crossed it.
