194 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 



•whom we wish all success in his very arduous 

 undertaking. 



Next in order to the stud-book stands the 

 huntsman's diary, in which the events of each 

 day's sport ought to be registered, the weather, 

 place of meeting, foxes found, how many killed or 

 run to ground, scent good, bad, or indifferent, a 

 list of the hounds out for that day, with remarks 

 upon the work of each. The addendum of what 

 earths were stopped will also prove of great service 

 at the close of the season, showing to what re- 

 muneration every keeper or earth-stopper is en- 

 titled, without trusting entirely to their own little 

 accounts ; and when foxes have gone to ground in 

 any known head of earths, the pay should be 

 stopped, to make these gentry more careful for the 

 time to come. The excuse is often made by an 

 idle stopper of earths, that they had been opened 

 again, after being properly closed, by badgers and 

 poachers ; but as it is his business, for which he is 

 well paid, to see that they are rightly sealed early 

 in the morning, and unsealed again before night- 

 fall, there is no excuse for this carelessness, 

 particularly if the hounds meet near his covert, 

 where his presence is required. The greatest use, 

 however, of the huntsman's day-book, is in show- 

 ing the number of days each hound has hunted 

 throughout the season, and the manner in which 

 he has done his work. The faults committed also 

 are dotted down, with other remarks, at the time, 

 which, save for pen, ink, and paper, might escape 

 the memory long before the ides of March came 



