FOXES FOXHOUNDS & FOX-HUNTING 



More quickly than we can tell about it, hounds 

 are clear of covert and streaking across the open, 

 while round the end of the wood come the field, 

 galloping hard for a start. Of all the throng of 

 horsemen we wonder how many could give a 

 view halloa like Jack the Whipper-in, now striding 

 away not far from hounds, the big chestnut 

 putting the fences behind him as a girl does her 

 skipping rope ? Not many we fancy, if the 

 raucous noises one so often hears from amateurs 

 are intended to be copies of the real thing. 



Besides knowing how to give a view halloa, 

 the main thing is to know when to give it, and 

 when to keep mute. Irresponsible halloas from 

 excited foot-people, as well as from mounted folk 

 who ought to know better, have perhaps been 

 the means of spoiling more runs than even the 

 ubiquitous cur dog that so often interferes with 

 sport. It was Whyte Melville who said that if 

 the field were composed of individuals from 

 a deaf and dumb asylum, a great many more 

 foxes would be accounted for. It is a true enough 

 statement, even more applicable to the huge 

 crowds which turn out to-day than during Whyte 

 Melville's time. 



How is it that so many people when they view 

 a fox must halloa ? Mainly we presume through 

 ignorance, or owing to excitement and over 

 enthusiasm. No matter what the motive may 

 be, it does not tend to mitigate the offence, nor 

 do the people responsible realise the amount of 

 harm that ensues. 



It is, of course, permissible for an experienced 

 person to halloa at the right moment, if he 

 perceives that by so doing he will be helping to 

 put matters right, but in the generality of cases 

 halloing should be left to the Hunt servants, who 



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