I^OXES FOXHOUNDS & FOX-HUNTING 



Curee, or rewarding of the hounds, the bowels 

 or guts were held up on a large wooden fork, the 

 huntsman at the same time halloing to the 

 hounds with cries of " Tiel haut," or " Lau, 

 I mi I " The tit-bits were then thrown to them. 

 This practice was called ' ' giving them the for hu." 

 Forthuer means to halloa loudly, therefore it is 

 possible that the modern term of giving the 

 hounds the halloa is derived from it. Not until 

 the eighteenth century does the word ' ' Tally-ho " 

 occur at all frequently in hunting literature. 



In cheering hounds to one which had struck 

 the right line the cry would be ' ' Oyez, a Ring- 

 wood, (or whatever the hound's name happened 

 to be) oyez, assemble a Ringwood," which trans- 

 lated means " Hark to Ringwood, hark, get on 

 to him." 



To encourage the limer when drawing for a 

 stag, the cry was " Ho moy, ho moy ; " while 

 " Avaunt, sire, avaunt" signifies "get away 

 forward, sir, get away forward." " Swef, mon 

 amy, swef corresponds to our " Steady there, 

 steady. " 



In mediaeval times the knowledge of venery 

 was as complete as it is to-day, and in some matters 

 connected with the chase, even more so. Hunts- 

 men and others connected with the Hunt prided 

 themselves on their sporting abilities from the 

 proper " undoing" or breaking-up of a deer to 

 the reading of signs and the proper blowing of the 

 many and various calls employed in the chase. 

 To-day hunting is still a popular pursuit, but the 

 majority of those who follow hounds are by no 

 means as well up in the science of the sport 

 as were their ancestors who chased the stag in the 

 old English woodlands. 



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