126 Otters and Otter-Hunting. 



especially on a blank day. But this intercourse need 

 not be carried on to the detriment of sport, and if 

 conversation cannot be low-toned, the least the high- 

 spirited brigade can do is to keep well behind and 

 away from the stream, where their merriment can do 

 no harm. 



There will always be '' babblers " in every Field, 

 as in every pack, and the Field-Master should not 

 hesitate to check the former as the whippers-in do 

 the latter. Such extreme cases as that of a small 

 schoolboy perched upon a rock in mid-stream while 

 hounds were swimming their Otter, and shouting to 

 his mother fifty yards lower down to know " if the 

 sandwiches were safe," are, fortunately, rare. 



Another nuisance is often caused by ladies bring- 

 ing their pet dogs out on leads: '' The poor little 

 thing must have exercise, you know " ! The result 

 is that Fido or Tiny gets madly excited, pulls at 

 his piece of pink ribbon until he is half-strangled, 

 barks and shrieks hysterically, gets the puzzled 

 hounds' heads up, and generally disintegrates 

 matters, ending by breaking away and rushing wildly 

 down a steep place into the river, from which he 

 returns panic-stricken, with such tail as he may 

 possess tightly tucked between his legs, and followed 

 by a couple or two of young hounds, who think that 

 if this strange beast won't let them catch an Otter 

 they will at least try to catch him. 



