84 Otters and Otter-Hunting. 



ally to the meet fit and well the Master and hunts- 

 man should be satisfied. A pleasant, civil manner, 

 with a necessary reserve in the matter of kennel 

 secrets, is a great advantage. Habits of early 

 rising, punctuality, personal cleanliness, and order 

 are of supreme importance, and, of course, sobriety. 

 The Field will always be apt to proffer generous 

 hospitality to hunt servants, and much harm is 

 sometimes unthinkingly done to them in this way. 

 I have no great belief in a teetotal kennelman, but 

 he should know his own capacity, and be able to 

 refuse as well as to take his drink like a man. 

 Otter-hunting is a trying pursuit physically, and 

 on a hot summer day refreshment is an actual 

 necessity of the chase. If he makes a rule of not 

 touching spirits of any sort until he has got 

 hounds fed and kennelled-up, and confines himself 

 to beer or cider or shandygaff during the day in 

 strictly moderate quantities, he will be a wise man 

 and come to no harm. 



It should be the business of the Master, or the 

 Secretary, or the Committee to see that the kennel- 

 man is supplied with such newspapers and other 

 literature as deal with the subjects of hounds and 

 hunting, and encouraged in every way to study his 

 profession and take an interest in what is being 

 done by other packs and by Masters and breeders 

 of hounds everywhere. 



