90 HORNS, HOLLOAS, DOG LANGUAGE 



It is very dangerous to give vent to a holloa on account 

 of " information received " ; far better to get informa- 

 tion and gallop back with it to the M.F.H. Remember 

 that a pedestrian who holloas because he sees a fox 

 may be viewing him from a distance of half a mile, 

 and however glad he may be to see the hunt, he is 

 not the least likely to run to the spot where the fox 

 was when viewed, though by doing so he would mate- 

 rially assist the pursuing host. It is the greatest 

 nuisance to a huntsman when he gallops to a holloa 

 with his pack to be told by the shouter that the 

 fox has gone away over the hill in the vicinity 

 of which hounds checked, for he has to hurry back 

 again over, perhaps, an intricate bit of country 

 when very likely his own cast would have hit off 

 the line in less time than it had taken to get to the 

 holloa. 



At the vital period of a good hunt, when hounds 

 have fairly asserted the superiority of condition and 

 have worked near to their beaten fox, we should be 

 more careful than at any other time how we raise 

 our voices. All sportsmen have learned that the 

 scent of a beaten fox is weak, but all do not realise 

 how very weak it is when the quarry is run almost 

 to a standstill and his elastic flight reduced to a 

 shambling walk ; but the hounds, though they cannot 

 race up to him, are terribly excited and fully aware 

 they are close to their beaten foe. A loud holloa 

 now will likely as not madden and unsettle them. 

 If they hunt from scent to view, well and good, but 

 if the fox lies up in a fence, or lies down in a turnip 

 or tillage field, the inveterate hoUoaers are very likely 



