Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/409

395 HUNTING 395 out its length and breadth, not only for the sake of the subscribers living in the different districts, but with a view to sport. Woodlands of greater or less extent are to be found even in countries denominated open, and these places are generally strongholds for foxes, and should be regularly rattled throughout the season; if this be neglected, the foxes, instead of breaking quickly, will ring about the cover all day, and, what is worse, many small covers will be drawn blank by reason of their inhabitants seeking the quietude of the wood, The frequent hunting of woodlands, though conducive in the long run to sport, is not popular with the field. It is on the whole a matter for congratu lation that most packs of hounds are now carried on by subscription. Little by little the expense attending a pack of hounds has increased until it has now assumed large proportions : the hounds must be of the best blood ; at least five horses per hunting day (exclusive of the master s) must be allowed for the hunt servants : no makeshifts for kennel or stable will be tolerated ; and the hunt servants must be men of known character. Under these circumstances, a master undertaking to keep hounds at his own expense incurs great cost for the benefit of others, or else, being judged by the standard of great estab lishments, lays himself open to a charge of only half doing what he has put his hand to. If hunting is as popular as it is supposed to be, it is for every reason advisable that thos3 who derive amusement from it should contribute something towards the general expenses. In establish ments conducted upon a liberal scale, the annual cost will amount to about 620 a year for each day in the week that the pack hunts ; thus, a three days a week pack will cost about .1860 per annum, a four days a week pack 2 480, and so on ; but absolute efficiency cannot be maintained much under 520 per day. e The author of the Diary of a Huntsman says that, its- to be perfect, &quot; a huntsman should possess the follow- a&amp;gt; ing qualifications health, memory, decision, temper, patience, a good ear, voice, and sight, courage and spirits, perseverance and activity ; and with these he will make a slow pack quick.&quot; Should the master be his own huntsman, ho will save about 300 a year, but he should unite as many as possible of the above list of virtues to those he is possessed of in his capacity of master. The position of a huntsman is a peculiar one ; he is the ser vant of the master, yet the latter must to a certain extent make a confidant of him, as in cases of breeding, drawing the hounds for a day s hunting, and other matters. A huntsman must be fond of his calling, or he will not be energetic in the pursuit of it ; he must also be a bold horseman, if a goad one so much the better, for nothing is more annoying to the master and the field than to see a huntsman refuse to cast his hounds in an obviously probable direction, because the doing so would necessitate jumping an ugly fence. Observation and decision are also indispensable. When hounds check, the proper course to pursue is very often suggested by some trifling incident which occurred perhaps ten minutes before, and which was noticed at the time without any particular weight being attached to it ; for instance, some rooks might have been hovering on the left or right of the line the hounds were running ; or again, some hound that can be depended on diverges for a moment from the rest of the pack. The huntsman remembers this when the check takes place, and tries in that direction, often with success. When once a check occurs, decision should be shown in acting promptly; right or wrong, the huntsman must do something, and must have a reason for what he does. Authorities are not wanting who reckon youth as one of a huntsman s qualities; but huntsmen, like hunters, are not at their best until half worn out. There is so much to learn in the nature of the fox, so many isolated cases must have been observed in order to deduce a principle from them, that a young man cannot possibly have the experience necessary to show the best sport, and our hunting records tell of men who have continued to ride boldly and to show no signs of age when fifty years old. The method of hunting a pack of hounds varies some what in different countries. One of the most accepted canons is that the huntsman should not interfere with his hounds more than is necessary. So long as hounds can hunt, it is best to let them do so, for if their heads are once got up by hallooing and lifting, they will not so readily settle down again ; while hounds that are in the habit of being lifted and galloped off to a distant point whenever a check occurs, will generally look for assistance, and will make but little use of their own noses on cold scenting days. Some countries are naturally bad-scenting ones, and, in order to kill a fox in them, hounds musi; be lifted more than in others. Huntsmen are often much abused, when drawing a large cover, for not going away with the first fox. There is a difference of opinion whether, if hounds are running one fox in cover, they should be stopped and put on the line of one that has gone away. Something will depend upon whether the cover was well worked during cub hunting or not, and whether foxes are plentiful or scarce, but after the 1st of February the rule should be to go away with the first fox that breaks, or the hounds may get on a vixen. The whipper-in, to be a success, must be content to The suppress himself for the public good. When a &quot;good whipper- thing &quot; occurs, and the huntsman is going as hard as he ln- can, and many of the field harder than they like, the whip, or, if two be kept, the second whip, should wait in cover and come on with the tail hounds. A good whip can do more in the furtherance of sport than any huntsman; in the in terest, therefore, of fox hunting, there must be no rivalry, or rather no manifestation of it, between the huntsman and the whip. A noisy fellow is an abomination ; and the whip should carefully avoid rating a hound after seeing that his voice is entirely disregarded. If needs be a hound must be flogged and that soundly, but he should never be struck without knowing what it is for ; thus, it is of no use, twenty minutes after a hound has ceased to run riot, to get alongside of him, bellow out his name, and then flog him ; to warrant the use of the lash, he must be caught fayrante delicto, and must pay no heed to rating. Where, however, hounds have been properly entered and treated, they will require but little chastisement. On approaching a cover, one whip should go on in advance and station himself on the lee side of it, where he may often see a fox steal away as soon as the hounds are thrown in. Although some packs have only one whip, a second is very desirable, especially before Christmas, and in countries where there is much woodland. One whip can then go into cover and keep near the huntsman in readiness to obey any directions he may give, and the other is free to see to other matters. The earth-stopper is an important functionary in conn- The tries where there are many earths, for if he neglects his earth- business blank days will probably result with annoying f re- fit PP er - quency. W 7 hen properly carried out, earth-stopping con sists in a man going round and stopping all the earths in the district to be hunted over during the day, so that when foxes return from finding their food, which they do some hours before it is light, theyshnll find their own door barred against them. This involves the earth-stopper being astii 1 shortly after 2 A.M., not the most pleasant hour of the twenty-four on a winter s day. If he gets to work late, he stops all the foxes in instead of out ; and, when the cover is drawn, no one can understand how the fox which has been seen about for the last fortnight cannot be