2o8 APPENDIX 



different kinds of running hounds, says that there were 

 some that, when they came to the change, they would 

 leave off speaking to the scent, and would run silently 

 until they found the scent of their stag again (G. de F., 

 p. 109). 



CUREE, Kyrre, Quyrreye, or Quarry. The cere- 

 mony of giving the hounds their reward was thus called 

 because it was originally given to the hounds on the 

 hide or cuir of the stag. 



Twici, the huntsman of Edward II., says that after 

 the stag is taken the hounds should be rewarded with 

 the neck and bowels and the liver. (" Et il se serra 

 mange sur le quir. E pur ceo est il apelee quyrreye.") 

 When the hounds receive their reward after a hare-hunt 

 he calls it the hallow. In the " Boke of St. Albans " we 

 find the quarry given on the skin, and it is only in the 

 " Master of Game " that it is expressly stated that a nice 

 piece of grass was to be found on which the hounds' 

 mess was to be put, and the hide placed over it, hair-side 

 upwards, the head being left on it and held up by the 

 antlers, and thus drawn away as the hounds rush up to 

 get their share. According to Turbervile, in his day the 

 reward was placed on the hide ; at least he does not in 

 his original chapter on the breaking up of the deer notice 

 any such difference between the French and English 

 customs. In France, it is as well to expressly state, the 

 curée was always given on the hide until the seventeenth 

 century, but after that it seems the hide was placed over 

 it just as described in our text (De Noirmont, vol. ii., 

 p. 458). Preceding the quarry came the ceremonial 

 breaking up of the deer. The stag was laid on its back 

 with feet in the air, slit open, and skinned by one of the 

 chief huntsmen, who took a pride in doing it according 

 to laws of woodmanscraft. They took a pride in not 

 turning up their sleeves and performing everything so 

 daintily that their garments should show no bloodstains ; 

 nobles, and princes themselves, made it a point of honour 



