34 THOUGHTS ON HUNTING 



So perfectly right is the poet in this, that if you can 

 make your kennel a visit every day, your hounds will 

 be the better for it. When I have been long absent 

 from mine, I have always perceived a difference in their 

 looks. I shall now take notice of that part of the 

 management of hounds in the kennel which concerns 

 the huntsman, as well as the feeder. Your huntsman 

 must always attend the feeding of the hounds, which 

 should be drafted, according to the condition they are 

 in. In all packs, some hounds will feed better than 

 others : some there are that will do with less meat ; 

 and it requires a nice eye, and great attention, to keep 

 them all in equal flesh : it is what distinguishes a good 

 kennel-huntsman, and has its merit. It is seldom that 

 huntsmen give this particular all the attention which it 

 deserves : they feed their hounds in too great a hurry ; 

 and not often, I believe, take the trouble of casting 

 their eye over them before they begin ; and yet to 

 distinguish with any nicety the order that a pack of 

 hounds are in, and the different degrees of it, is surely 

 no easy task ; and, to be done well, requires no small 

 degree of circumspection. You had better not expect 

 your huntsman to be very exact : where precision is 

 required, he will most probably fail. 



When I am present myself, I make several drafts. 

 When my huntsman feeds them, he calls them all over 

 by their names, letting in each hound as he is called : 

 it has its use ; it uses them to their names, and teaches 

 them to be obedient. Were it not for this, I should 

 disapprove of it entirely ; since it certainly requires 

 more coolness and deliberation to distino-uish with 



