I04 OTTER HUNTING, FALCONRY, SHOOTING 



it should be so, but his own failings have led to this 

 result. He is generally a babbler, throwing his tongue 

 without good reason, or without reason sufficiently good ; 

 if tired, he insists on speaking to an old scent, and it is 

 particularly exasperating when you want hounds to get on 

 quickly, to have a particular individual hanging over a 

 worn-out scent. Further, the rough coat of the otter- 

 hound holds the water, so that he grows chilly sooner 

 than the foxhound. On the whole, therefore, in spite of 

 tradition, the old otter-hound has given place in these 

 packs to the foxhound. It is a little difficult to enter 

 foxhounds to otter, but, once entered, the foxhound 

 proves himself second to none in reliability and patience, 

 in pluck, in facing the water, and in enduring wet and 

 cold. 



We are now ready for a morning's hunting, and by 

 this we mean early morning, for the scent soon grows 

 faint on the drying grass, and so the otter hunter must 

 be up betimes. We will join the master at the kennels, 

 and go with him and his hounds to the meet, five miles 

 off, at Mill Bridge. 



A cold, clear rift is just beginning to widen in the 

 eastern sky as we set off with the pack — twelve couple 

 of good hounds, as fit as exercise and the most thoughtful 

 care can make them. 



At the mill itself a small field is waiting, which includes 

 one or two ladies. Most of them are dressed in the 

 colours of the hunt. Everyone carries a long ash pole 



