146 HUNTING. 



influence over his hounds, and is a pleasure to all who hunt 

 with him. Old Carter, who died in the autumn of 1884, having 

 survived his ninetieth birthday, had a lovely voice. Even when 

 he was over seventy years of age it was a treat to hear him draw 

 a big woodland. William Long also had a most musical voice. 

 To a whipper-in such a voice is a misfortune, and he should 

 nourish and cherish it till such time as he becomes a huntsman 

 and carries a horn. I fully agree with the late Earl Fitzhardinge, 

 who was one of the best sportsmen that ever lived, whose know- 

 ledge of hunting and all appertaining thereto was inferior to no 

 man's. He used to say, ' I hate a whipper-in with a fine loud 

 voice. If anything goes wrong, if hounds riot or get hold of 

 carrion, he is satisfied to sit a mile off and rate them.' That 

 may do very well once, and hounds may fear the consequence 

 of not avoiding whatever their misdeed is ; but when they 

 find nobody comes, the next time they will take no notice of it. 

 The whipper-in when he finds wrong-doing should say nothing 

 but get quickly to the hounds ; when he is right on top of 

 them, a quick rate with the voice and a smack of the whip will 

 probably put matters to rights ; should it not, then a smart 

 stroke with a not too heavy whip may be necessary. The 

 last thing it strikes me to remark about the voice is that 

 in coming away from a covert drawn blank the huntsman's 

 voice and horn should be sufficient to bring hounds away ; 

 the whipper-in's voice should not be heard. I hear con- 

 stantly whippers-in making as much noise as though six foxes 

 had gone away. This is wrong, and makes hounds slack and 

 slow in coming when a fox has gone. You cannot make more 

 than a certain noise, and if you make all you can when no fox 

 is gone how are hounds to know the difference of being simply 

 drawn out of a blank covert or being wanted to get quickly 

 away after a fox? This is particularly objectionable when 

 drawing a succession of small coverts, which you are probably 

 doing down wind, and it moves a fox that is a mile or even two 

 miles off. I have known several whippers-in good men in 

 their way I should have liked to take out with muzzles on. 



