160 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN 



as not, and more so, if the fox was going down 

 wind. Simple as this plan is, many runs have been 

 lost by not adopting it, for they may have taken 

 the scent-heel through the whole side of the cover. 

 Much cheering and hallooing to hounds by a 

 huntsman is generally disapproved of, but in large 

 woodlands it keeps hounds together ; sometimes 

 it makes your hunted fox fly, and also is the cause 

 of other foxes breaking another day, for they recollect 

 it, and having got well off before, try it again. Few 

 men have lungs to stand it, nor would they do it 

 from choice, but the fact that hounds will come to 

 a good shrill view-halloo quicker than to any horn 

 in the world is beyond a doubt. Such is the effect 

 of a real good cheer on hounds, that they actually 

 jump round, so excited can they be made by it. 

 Not so with a horn ; it is true they will come to it, 

 which is enough. If it is used frequently, it is 

 thought by some to lose its effect on hounds. But 

 in bad scenting countries, when it is necessary to 

 cheer hounds a great deal to get them together, and 

 to make them draw or hunt, the more assistance a 

 man can get from his horn the better, or his voice 

 cannot last if his constitution does ; therefore he 

 had better even use his horn occasionally in drawing 

 to get hounds on, and to let them know where he 



