98 Otters and Otter-Hunting. 



hunting days during the season, and never sees 

 them from October to March, save for an occasional 

 Sunday afternoon on the flags and at the annual 

 puppy-judging, will not show the same quality of 

 sport as the man who is with his hounds almost 

 daily, and who is associated in their minds with 

 their feeding and exercise as well as with their 

 sport. 



The really keen M.O.H. will live within a short 

 distance of his kennels, where the noise of hounds 

 '' singing " in the morning will gladden his heart 

 — if it break his rest — as do the chanted words 

 " All's well " from the look-out man on an ocean 

 liner at midnight. He should be in kennels daily, 

 if possible, and see hounds fed — at least so often 

 that they come to associate him as much with the 

 feeding-trough as they do with the horn. But let 

 them never see him with a whip in his hands. Let 

 him slip a kennel coat over his clothes and allow 

 them to paw and caress him as they please, while 

 he speaks to, fondles, and makes much of them in 

 return. His should be the voice that calls them by 

 name into the feeding-room, and while doing so he 

 must see that on mentioning their names some 

 officious kennel-boy does not hit them a rap with a 

 kennel-crop to send them to his call. Indeed, the 

 use of the whip in kennels is to be deprecated, and 

 the men should rather carry couples in its place. 



