58 THE FOXHOUND 



a couple of lessons are necessary to make them 

 feel at home in the water. 



The homing instinct is possessed in greater 

 or less degree by all hounds and should be cul- 

 tivated to the utmost. This should not be done 

 by leaving them in the woods or hunting ground 

 to find their way home alone. Make short 

 excursions from the home and have them con- 

 fined for an hour after your departure. Grad- 

 ually increase the distance as well as the time 

 of confinement. Whenever a hound returns 

 voluntarily to the kennels he should be given 

 a morsel to eat, no matter what hour or how 

 near feeding time. 



If you leave a hound while out hunting, he 

 soon loses confidence in you and looks upon 

 you as a deserter. When you are ready to re- 

 turn call him with your ^horn, the tone of 

 which you should familiarize him with in the 

 kennels. It is remarkable how readily they 

 learn the tone of their master's horn and never 

 forget or confuse it with another. Use the 

 cow horn in preference to the brass instrument. 

 The latter has no individuality and is very hard 

 for a hound to distinguish. There is a peculiar 

 charm, a mysterious sweetness about the tone 

 of a good, well-blown cow horn that no musical 

 instrument possesses. Its melody fills the heart 



