HORSES AND HOUXDS. 79 



are seldom safe until they have been rounded, and have passed 

 over the summer months. 



The chief faults in hounds are, being too free with their tongues, 

 which always increases with their years ; running mute is 

 equally objectionable ; next comes skirting or running wide of 

 the pack ; this is also a great fault, and hounds which once take 

 to a line of their own, are not only irreclaimable, but do great 

 mischief When there are two scents, a skirter is sure to be on 

 the wrong one ; he will also cut corners, to get to the head by 

 himself, and when joined by the other hounds, will dash and 

 flash away again from off the line and lead the others astray. A 

 hound which potters and dwells upon a scent, is also incorri- 

 gible. Hanging in covert is another fault, but this may be cor- 

 rected by a good whipper-in. Hounds often acquire this habit 

 from self-hunting when at their walks, or by being left behind 

 in coverts when first entered, by a careless whipper-in ; if, after 

 a fair trial, they cannot be broken of this trick, it is better to 

 draft them before others follow their example. Piunning riot is 

 a common propensity, to which all young hounds are liable, 

 and this point must be settled between Jack and themselves. 

 Some will require a good allowance of whipcord, others little or 

 none ; but all ought to be steady to their own game by the end 

 of the first season ; this I consider a very fair latitude, beyond 

 which I should not feel inclined to extend any indulgence on 

 this score. A determined hare-hunter, if ever so good in other 

 respects and handsome withal, will do much more mischief 

 than he is worth. Let him go elsewhere, for it is folly to allow 

 your whole pack to be unsettled for the sake of one hound. 

 Nothing grates so much upon the ear of a true sportsman as to 

 hear a rate immediately following the first tongue which is 

 thrown ; and it is equally annoying to old steady hounds, 

 damping their eagerness in drawing. A resolute hare-hunter is 

 always keeping one in fear and trembling ; with a beaten fox 

 before you, and a ticklish scent, he will assuredly flash away 

 upon a hare and spoil the finish to a good run ; yet, strange to 

 say, I have known huntsmen keep on brutes of this descrip- 

 tion for the reason "that they were capital when a fox was 

 found." 



There are not wanting individuals in most hunts always up 

 in the stirrups when a fox is on foot, and very subject to optical 

 delusions, who will halloo the first animal they see, whether fox 

 or hare, and with a ready-made mischief-maker, a smart scurry 

 after a scut is no very unusual occurrence. Hounds when 

 fresh and put upon their mettle by halloos, will flash away 

 upon almost any scent, that is, the young hounds will do so, 



