3IO HARE-HUNTING AND HARRIERS 



" With one fashionable Hunt, where the fields range, 

 on an average, from 200 to 300, the position of affairs 

 is this : The holloaing of a fox away, instead of being, 

 as it should be, merely a signal for hounds to come out 

 of covert, is, of course, as has always been the case, 

 taken as one for the field to break away, with the 

 result that in almost all cases, particularly where the 

 covert is thick and big, about four couples of hounds 

 get away ; then come the foremost brigade, then a few 

 more hounds, then another strong body of the field, 

 with the remainder of the pack picking their way 

 through a mob of galloping horses. The result is that 

 the Master is hoarse with shouting, and the leading 

 hounds are so pressed that, if it be at all a bad scenting 

 day, up go their heads, and the field is then found in 

 the position of a half-moon, the two horns being in 

 advance of the leading hounds, while the rest of the 

 pack are scattered all abroad. It is impossible for 

 the Master to be here, there, and everywhere at once ; 

 and it would be in the interests of every one if a rule 

 were enforced that for the future the holloaing of a 

 fox away is to be treated as a call to the hounds only, 

 and that none of the field are to move until the Master's 

 or whipper-in's whistle goes, which, in the majority 

 of cases, would not be until the last hound was out of 

 covert. If the present state of affairs with some Hunts 

 goes on much longer, we may probably see from some 

 determined Master a repetition of the action of the 

 Master of the Quorn some few years ago, when he took 

 hounds home in consequence of the over-riding that 

 went on in defiance of his authority. It is invidious 

 to make distinctions, but I am sorry to say that the 

 chief offenders are often men who, from their position 

 in the Hunt, ought to set a better example. 



" W. B." 



