HUNTSMAN 149 



holds a fox, and the sooner that is drawn the better ; 

 for if it is a good scenting day and there is a drag, 

 the fox is aware of it, and will be off the moment 

 he hears the huntsman's voice ; therefore, as no 

 man can tell till he has tried whether it is a good 

 scenting day or not, he should adopt the safe plan 

 and find him quickly if he can, particularly if late 

 in the year. A fox generally hes where the rays of 

 the sun can reach him during the day, — in two-year- 

 old coppice wood, etc. It is worthy of notice that 

 one cover will generally hold a fox, when another 

 adjoining it seldom or ever does. By the middle 

 of the season a huntsman will, or ought to, know 

 where to put his hand on a fox (if there is one in the 

 country), let him be in what part he may, but to do 

 this he must be very observant on all occasions. 



To have even spirits (not easily dejected) is also a 

 requisite for a huntsman, otherwise on bad scenting 

 seasons he will often go home without his fox, and 

 will be apt to feel disheartened, and that he is never 

 to kill another. But this will not do, although his 

 hounds after a continuation of it will scarcely turn 

 to a halloo, and it requires the patience of Job to 

 put up with what one hears and sees ; for some men 

 will say, it is all the huntsman's fault that the 

 hounds will not draw ; some, it is the fault of the 



