42 HUNTING 



coverts, he should never let his zeal persuade him to 

 follow hounds into covert. In most packs his attempt 

 to do so would be stopped at the outset hj a peremptory 

 request to keep outside. It is the Jiounds, under the 

 guidance of the huntsman, who are hunting the fox, not 

 " the field" or people who follow the hounds. When any 

 of " the field " follow hounds into covert they worry the 

 hounds in their work, worry the huntsman in his work, 

 and worry the fox, if he has not gone away, in his 

 work. There is also the risk of their horses kicking 

 hounds. In large coverts " the field " should always 

 keep in the " rides," or paths, and at least fifty yards 

 behind hounds. Should the novice view the fox, his 

 best plan is to raise his hat, and not halloa, for his 

 halloa may frighten the fox back into covert just as 

 he was going away, and prevent a good " run." If there 

 is nobody to see him raise his hat, he should gallop 

 to the huntsman and tell him the news. A fox pro- 

 vides just as good, if not a better " run," if he has three 

 or four fields' start of hounds. " Silence is golden " 

 should be the motto of the novice in the hunting-field, 

 where speech is but too often spurious copper. 



It is, perhaps, necessary to state for the benefit of the 

 uninitiated that hounds hunt a fox through the scent 

 which he leaves behind him, and which he is popularly 

 supposed to carry in his brush. They hunt him with 

 their noses, not with their eyes. The peculiar nature 

 of this scent has baffied the most expert huntsmen. 

 It will be strong on one day and weak on another, 

 though the atmospheric conditions of the two days 

 are precisely similar. Sometimes it will lie on the 

 ground, sometimes it will rise beyond the reach of 

 hounds' olfactories, and sometimes it will rise and 

 then settle down again. One thing, however, is certain, 



