50 HUNTING 



glad to accede to the request, tliougli the foxhound 

 puppy is a mischievous beast, with a partiality for 

 scraping up flower-beds, and other freaks of a similar 

 irritating nature, and he must be allowed to run loose. 

 But we willingly pardon him for these little peculi- 

 arities — 



" For he'll grow into a hound, 

 So we'll pass the bottle round, 

 And merrily we'll ' whoop ' and well ' halloa.' " 



At the end of twelve months he returns to the kennels, 

 where he will probably take a prize at the puppy show, 

 to the delight of his temporary master or mistress. 

 These prizes are given by the M.F.H. for the best 

 puppies ; and as it is tlie ladies who generally have 

 to be consulted about " walking a puppy," the M.F.H., 

 if he be wise in his generation, should take care that 

 the prize be something pleasing to the feminine mind, 

 e.g. a silver coffee-pot or tea-pot. 



The holiday life of puppyhood is now^ over, and the 

 puppy has to be subjected to discipline, in regard both 

 to diet and to exercise. As the hunting season 

 approaches he is exercised to a large extent on the 

 roads, so as to make his feet hard, and by the first 

 week in September he is fit, to go "cub-hunting," i.e. to 

 hunt the young foxes. Many hunting men regard 

 cub- hunting with contempt, but foxes have to be 

 thinned and young hounds have to be blooded, else 

 they will " run riot," i.e. hunt other game than the 

 fox. Cub-hunting commences at the end of August and 

 continues till the beginning of the legitimate hunting 

 season (which lasts from the first week in November 

 till the last week in March), and the hours for the 

 meets vary from 5 A.M. to 10.30 A.M., according to the 

 time of sunrise. When a hound once knows the 



