THE TREATMENT OF WHELPS 51 



I have often heard, as an excuse for hounds not 

 hunting a cold scent, that they were too high bred. 

 I confess, I know not what that means ; but this I 

 know, that hounds are frequently too ill-bred to be 

 of any service. It is judgment in the breeder, and 

 patience afterwards in the huntsman, that make them 

 hunt. 1 



Young hounds are commonly named when first 

 put out, and sometimes, indeed, ridiculously enough ; 

 nor is it easy, when you breed many, to find suitable 

 or harmonious names for all ; particularly as it is 

 usual to name all the whelps of one litter with the 

 same letter, which (to be systematically done) should 

 also be the initial letter of the dog that got them, or 

 the bitch that bred them. A baronet of my acquaint- 

 ance, a literal observer of the above rule, sent three 

 young hounds of one litter to a friend, all their names 

 beginning, as he said, with the letter G : Gowler, 

 Govial, and Galloper. 



It is, indeed, of little consequence what huntsmen 

 call their hounds ; yet, if you dislike an unmeaning 

 name, would it not be as well to leave the naming of 

 them till they are brought home ? They soon learn 

 their names, and a shorter list would do. Damons 

 and Delias would not then be necessary; nor need the 

 sacred names of Titus and Trajan be thus degraded. 

 It is true, there are many odd names which custom 

 authorises ; yet I cannot think, because some drunken 

 fellow or other has christened his dog Tipler, or 



1 Hounds which I had thought stiff-nosed for many years, I have seen 

 hunt the coldest scent, when once the impatience of youth had left them. 



