HUNTING THE FOX 43 



to correct. If he had used his voice outside the 

 covert, they would know where he was, and would 

 the more readily tend to leave him and help the 

 old Hounds to draw, instead of coming back to 

 look for him at the place where they last saw him. 

 The advantage of scientific over slipshod methods 

 cannot be better illustrated than by a comparison 

 between the right and the wrong way of putting 

 Hounds into covert and getting them to draw. 

 How often one hears that a certain pack of Fox- 

 hounds draw well, while another pack is slack in 

 drawing. If the truth were only known, the slack- 

 ness is probably due to a faulty technique on the 

 part of the Huntsman rather than to the disposition 

 of the Hounds. No doubt some individual Hounds 

 draw better than others, and will find a Fox in 

 spite of any Huntsman. But there is good ground 

 for the opinion that the capacity of the pack as a 

 whole to spread and draw well is an acquired rather 

 than an inherited characteristic. 



However, we will now imagine that all is well. 

 Every Hound is out of sight " examining with 

 curious nose each likely haunt," and the Huntsman 

 is well away from them either in rear or on a flank, 

 encouraging them with his voice while he awaits 

 the thrill of the first find of the season. And let 

 it be a find. If a whipper-in sees a Cub cross a 

 ride he must not holloa. He can tell the Huntsman 

 very quietly, who can then turn his horse's head 



