INTRODUCTION xv 



themselves. The fact is that the observant huntsman 

 has chances of noting the niceties and subtleties of 

 hound work in a way which is impossible to the 

 ordinary hunting man. The huntsman has pride of 

 place, and can be always with his hounds ; whereas 

 the ordinary hunting man — if he conducts himself 

 properly — is not always in a position to observe every- 

 thing which takes place. Then, again, the huntsman 

 is amongst his hounds in covert, and can actually 

 (at times) see them find a fox ; whereas ordinary fol- 

 lowers, except when there are big woodlands, seldom 

 go into covert, and when they follow hounds through 

 a big woodland they are necessarily some distance 

 behind. 



As it happens, we have had opportunities for seeing 

 hounds do every part of their work ; but there are men 

 and women who have hunted for years, and never 

 actually seen a fox found by hounds. They have, of 

 course, seen scores of foxes break covert, and have 

 seen many depart from little places before hounds had 

 a chance of finding them ; but the actual discovery of 

 a fox in his kennel by a hound which has winded him 

 is a thing which is seldom witnessed by any one but a 

 huntsman or whipper-in. 



Then, again, there are standard works on the sub- 

 ject which were written by masters of hounds, and 

 which hold their own to the present day. Of the older 

 ones, Beckford's Thoughts on Huntings published in 

 1 781, was the first real authority on foxhunting. The 

 less-known but extremely valuable Observations on Fox 

 Huntings etc., by Colonel Cook, was published in 

 1826; but whereas " Beckford " is a household word 



