IIuNTixG Terms. 



469 



Crash. — When every hound in cover is throuinij his 

 tongue. 



Cold Hunting. — When hounds can scarcely feel a scent, 

 and pick it out with difficulty. " After a burst of 

 ten minutes we came on the plougli, and fell to cold 

 hunting.^'' 



Dwelling. — When hounds do not run up to a huntsman's 

 holloa, perhaps feeling a cold scent, will not stir 

 until moved by the whipper-in, or perhaps having 

 lost confidence in the huntsman after a series of bad 

 days. A slow huntsman is apt to dwell. 



Full Cry. — When the v.'hole pack are running hard and 

 throwing their tongues. 



Holding Scent. — Exactly the reverse. When the scent 

 is quite good enough for hounds to hunt a fox a fair 

 pace, but not enough to satisfy those who only come 

 out to gallop and jump. 



Lifting. — When hounds have checked and lost scent, or 

 are scarcely able to over it across bad scenting 

 ground, the huntsman, either because he hears a 

 holloa forward from some one who has seen the 

 travelling fox, or on calculation, lifts them forward, 

 for the chance of getting on terms with the fox. 

 This is contrary to the theory and feelings of the 

 best sportsmen, who like to see the hounds do their 

 own work ; for, if hounds are continually lifted, they 

 will always be looking to the huntsman, and will not 

 hunt. On the other hand, there would be no sport 

 if hounds were never lifted, either where the county 

 is intersected by tracts of ground that hold no scent, 

 or where, as in the fashionable counties, horsemen in 



hundreds so press on the pack that they cannot get 



room to hunt until the mob has been stalled off by a 



quick gallop over severe fencing. 

 Metal. — When hounds are very fresh and fly without 



scent, that is called metal. 

 Moving scent. — When hounds get on the scent of a fox 



disturbed in travelling ; a scent fresher than a drag. 

 Mule. — Hounds run mute when the scent is so good that 



they gallop at such a pace that they cannot throw 



their tongues. A hound that runs mute, even if in 



every other respect the best hound in the pack, is a 



nuisance. 

 Riot. — When hounds hunt anything besides the fox, the 



call is " Ware riot ! ware hare I" Good hounds have 



been known to hunt cur dogs, and even a galloping 



donkey. 

 Heel. — When hounds, instead of following the fox, run 



back over the scent the way they came. 

 Sinking. — When a fox is nearly beaten. 

 Sinking the wind. — When men go down wind to catch 



the cry of the hounds. 

 Streaming. — When hounds go across an open county like 



a flock of pigeons, it is called " streaming away." 

 Tailing. — When hounds in a chase run in a line and not 



abreast — generally owing to a bad scent or the pack 



not being equal in pace — a common fault in " scratch" 



packs. 

 Scratch pack. — A pack composed of hounds begged or 



purchased, of any size or sort, anywhere, under an 



emergency, or for the sake of making up a cheap 



pack in a hurry. 



