THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



hounds, by constantly hearing it, will pay but little attention 

 to it. Hallooing to hounds is highly useful when done with 

 judgment, but it must be done with caution. Never cap your 

 hounds, with halloos, to a bad scent ; it makes them wild and 

 eager, and never should be done but when the scent is good. 

 Hounds cannot be brought up too quietly to a cold scent. 

 With respect to your field hallooing, I have no objection to a 

 little of that under certain circumstances. No one should 

 halloo if he is behind hounds ; but if a man, who knows what 

 hunting is, happens to be well up with the pack when they are 

 on good terms with their fox, a cheering halloo may do no 

 harm ; the hounds will not attend to it, and it is expressive of 

 the pleasure of the hallooer. The huntsman, however, who is 

 endowed by nature with a clear, sonorous voice, in a well- 

 pitched key, and knows how to use it with effect, contributes 

 to the enthusiasm of fox-hunting, and, consequently, to the 

 success of it. 



' Earth-stopping is best done by at once stopping all main 

 earths, having first stunk them out, as the term is, by brim- 

 stone matches, etc., so as to prevent the chance of having 

 foxes stopped in them. It is by the knowledge of main earths 

 to fox-stealers that foxes are taken ; and if all main earths in 

 England and elsewhere were destroyed, there would be more 

 foxes and better runs. 



' If one vixen fox can lay and bring up her litter above 

 ground, why cannot another ? And is it not proverbial that 

 what are called stub-bred foxes are generally stoutest runners ? 

 In the summer, let your whippers-in go about and discover the 

 mouths of drains, and have them staked. Iron gratings will 

 be stolen, and stakes will last two years. 



' Although I am of opinion that foxes do not destroy game 

 nearly to the extent which is laid to their charge, still, as the 

 preservation of it is now become so fashionable, you must 

 open your purse to the keepers within your country, and a 

 dinner to them, annually, with your huntsman in the chair, 

 will go a great way in procuring their respect and good-will. 

 It is stated, indeed, on good practical authority, that, by 

 opening the racks in covers, during cub-hunting, and early in 

 the season, a pack of foxhounds help to preserve game, by 

 destroying the facility of its being snared in the unopened 

 racks. A few sovereigns, thrown amongst undcr-keepers in 



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