Hunting Lore 8i 



are, at such a time, extremely troublesome, and 

 very mal-a-propos^ — amongst the ancients, it was 

 reckoned an ill omen to speak in hunting : I wish 

 it were thought so now. Hoc age^ should be one 

 of the first maxims in hunting, as in life : and I 

 can assure you, when I am in the field I never wish 

 to hear any other tongue than that of a hound. A 

 neighbour of mine was so truly a hare-hunter in 

 this particular, that he would not suffer anybody 

 to speak a word when his hounds were at fault. A 

 gentleman happening to cough, he rode up to him 

 immediately, and said: *-^ I wish^ Sir, with all my 

 hearty that your cough was better.^* 



Peter Beckford. 



Cub Hunting ^^:> ^^ ^^ 



DURING at least the first month of Cub- 

 hunting, hounds should be kept in covert and 

 not allowed to see daylight. This for two reasons : 

 first the puppies learn to depend on the old hounds 

 and go to the cry much better in covert than in the 

 open. They cannot stare about, and are forced to 

 use their ears and their intelligence. Second, the 

 whole pack learns how to correct its own faults 

 without holloas and assistance — the most valuable 

 of all lessons — when the Cub makes a sharp turn, 

 and the scent is overrun. In addition to this, the 

 Staff cannot keep near hounds in the open until at 

 least the middle of October. What happens? The 

 training and condition of the old hounds gives them 

 the lead ; the puppies follow them, not rightly 

 knowing what they are after ; sooner or later a 

 check occurs; a hare jumps up, offering a tempta- 

 tion which impetuous youth cannot resist, even in 

 its second season, and a general demoralization 



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