110 A HUNTING CATECHISM 



seems no longer to exist. The old proverb may 

 then be aptly quoted that " he who runs may 

 read," and due merit be given to the huntsman 

 who outwits his quarry instead of vice versa. 

 Perhaps no higher meed of praise can be given 

 to any one than for it to be said of him : " He 

 is always killing in a cart-shed ! " It is the best 

 proof possible that he knows his business. 



With some huntsmen the sole aim seems to be 

 to have a gallop, and a satisfactory finish to the 

 run appears quite immaterial, so long as they can 

 speedily find another animal to hunt. To them 

 a gentle reminder may be offered, that the object 

 of hunting is to catch your game ; and that any- 

 thing short of that must be dubbed a failure. 

 Others, on the contrary, seek by any means to 

 attain a kill, and spoil many a promising gallop 

 by using unwarrantable means to drive the quarry 

 into the mouths of the hounds. A huntsman 

 should beware of becoming too bloodthirsty, and 

 should remember that kills without a run are 

 distasteful to his followers ; and that the number 

 of noses on a kennel door do not always signify 

 there has been real sport. " In medio tutissimus 

 ibis " is as safe a maxim to follow as it was in 

 the days of Imperial Rome, and the huntsman 

 who can show a record of excellent gallops, 

 followed by kills in the open, has no need to 

 fear that his light will ever be hid under a 

 bushel. 



Many ladies have carried the horn in the wake 

 of harriers with more or less success, and where 

 fields are small, and composed almost entirely 

 of friends and dependants, no possible objection 

 can be urged, especially when the pack is a semi- 

 private one, and there is a capable substitute 



