DKAWING A COVER 205 



instance of the want of it in my own huntsman, who 

 was making so much noise with his hounds, which 

 were then at fault, that a man halloo'd a long while 

 before he heard him ; and, when he did hear him, so 

 little did he know whence the halloo came, that he 

 rode two miles the wrong way, and lost the fox. 



When hounds approach a cover which it is in- 

 tended they should draw, and dash away towards it, 

 whippers-in ride after them to stop them : it is too 

 late, and they had better let them alone ; it checks 

 them in their drawing, and is of no kind of use : it will 

 be soon enough to begin to rate when they have found, 

 and hunt improper game. When a huntsman has his 

 hounds under good command, and is attentive to them, 

 they will not break off till he chooses that they should. 

 When he goes by the side of a cover which he does 

 not intend to draw, his whippers-in must be in their 

 proper places ; for if he should ride up to a cover with 

 them unawed, uncontrolled ; a cover where they have 

 been used to find — they must be slack indeed, if they 

 do not dash into it. It is, for that reason, better, not 

 to come into a cover always the same way : hounds, 

 by not knowing what is going forward, will be less 

 likely to break off, and will draw more quietly. I 

 have seen hounds so flashy, that they would break 

 away from the huntsman as soon as they saw a cover ; 

 and I have seen the same hounds stop when they got 

 to the cover-side, and not go into it. It is want of 

 proper discipline which occasions faults like these. 

 Hounds that are under such command, as never to 

 leave their huntsman till he encourage them to do it, 



