HORNS, HOLLOAS, DOG LANGUAGE 81 



silent a huntsman, although he was gifted with a 

 magnificent voice, resonant and melodious, and 

 further produced a most stirring note upon a horn. 

 Silent he may have been, yet how seldom did his 

 hounds chop a fox in covert, and when did he ever 

 leave his field behind when hounds went away with 

 their fox? His quiet encouragement to the pack to 

 try (sounds which a friend declares reminded him 

 of the conjugating of Greek verbs, eloimi, philoimi), 

 varied by a peculiar hound-like call, " Eelyow, ellyow ! " 

 contrasted strongly with the bellowing invocations to 

 " push him up " and " roust him up," accompanied by 

 loud blasts of the horn, which some huntsmen use. 

 In drawing, Mr. Watson, as a rule, used his horn not 

 at all, except to move his pack from one part of the 

 covert to another. But his " Hoick, hoick, hoick ! " 

 was good to hear when a " finder " opened, and the 

 " Eloo-Zoo, eloo-Zoo, eloo-Zoo — at him ! " which followed, 

 used to set the bushes shaking and the horses 

 capering. 



It is true that most of Mr. Watson's coverts were 

 small, the woodlands few, and the gorses plenty ; and 

 I believe that in really large woodlands a free use of 

 both horn and voice is most necessary to keep 

 hounds in touch, and also to keep in touch with the 

 field. 



The best performer on a horn that I ever heard 

 was the late Frank Beers, when huntsman to the 

 Grafton Hounds, and next to him, in my experience, 

 I would place Mr. Langrishe, the late Master of the 

 Kilkenny. Both these men could " bring a tune out 

 of a gas-pipe," and Beers, in his immense woodlands 



Hounds, Gentlemen, Please- 7 



