Echoes of the Hunting Horn 



at the beginning and are slow to enter to their work 

 very often develop into excellent foxhounds. 



It is an interesting and rather inexplicable fact that 

 two puppies of the same litter, possessing pedigrees of 

 outstanding brilliance, fed on the same foods, and 

 brought up together under identical conditions can 

 differ so much in their attitude towards actual fox- 

 hunting. One of them on his very first morning may 

 go into covert with the old hounds like a seasoned 

 veteran. When he gets the first whiff of scent he puts 

 his nose to the ground, runs the line as accurately as 

 an old campaigner, throws his tongue joyously and is 

 among those present when the pack account for their 

 quarry. He is entered and now knows his work without 

 giving any trouble whatever to his huntsman. On the 

 other hand his comrade may be shy of entering covert. 

 If he does go in he may be more interested in juicy 

 young rabbits than in elusive fox cubs. He may or may 

 not run with the pack. If he does, he may forget that 

 he has a tongue in his head and run mute; or he may 

 be too free with his voice and be a babbling nuisance 

 who will tongue incessantly whether on the right scent 

 or not, and never dream of using his nose to discover 

 the difference. Most puppies will hasten instantly to 

 the note of an old hound whose first whimper proclaims 

 a find. The difficult type of puppy quite often ignores 

 the opening note in covert and although he instantly 

 obeys the huntsman's horn and hurries to the find, he 

 takes no interest whatever in the behaviour of his kennel- 

 mates and seems utterly lacking in anything approaching 

 pack instinct. It may take several weeks of careful 



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