CHAPTER IV.
THE HUMANITARIAN ASPECT.
_By Col. Robertson-Aikman._
I have been asked to contribute some remarks on the humanitarian aspect of hare hunting, much having been written to the Press on its cruelty, especially in reference to the E.C.H.—a hunt that has been singled out for opprobrium by people to whom must no doubt be attributed well-meaning and humanitarian feelings, but who it seems to me fail to recognise natural laws or to take a broad-minded or unbiased view of sport in general or to realise that they have not the monopoly of humane feelings.
To commence with, what is cruelty? The infliction of pain need not necessarily constitute cruelty, else many things besides sport must be condemned. The infliction of unnecessary pain is where cruelty begins, and this is reprehensible and inexcusable. I think the subject must be approached with a sense of proportion, and must be treated comparatively. All animals have to meet their death, and those that are used for human food an untimely death at the hand of man, and the chief object to be kept in view is the avoidance of inflicting unnecessary pain. This should be every true sportsman’s aim.
Nature herself is cruel, beasts and birds of prey being the worst offenders. Who that has seen a cat with a mouse but is not moved with pity and made to wonder why things have been so ordained?
Venery has been in vogue since the days of primitive man, when he hunted for the means of subsistence; and nowadays, when it is practised as a manly pastime for exercise, health, and pleasure, every true sportsman who indulges in it makes it his endeavour to minimise the sufferings of his quarry, and will always give it a fair chance for its life. Contrast this with the everyday occurrence of a calf or a pig being taken to have its throat cut and bled to death with no possible chance of escape. My sympathy is stronger for these than for any hunted animal. Have those who decry the sport never eaten veal and ham pie?
I said before that the question is comparative, and I should like to follow that up by saying that the sport of hunting compares very favourably with other sports from a humanitarian view. Take shooting; how many animals and birds in a day’s shooting get away wounded, many to die a lingering death? Quite a considerable percentage. In hunting it is certain death or escape, and, though cases are known of hunted animals being picked up afterwards having died of exhaustion, these cases are exceptional. They never get away wounded, and their end when killed by hounds is as quick as it is certain. I imagine there are more things mortally wounded in a big day’s covert shoot than any one pack of hounds kills in a season, and I venture to think that taking the country as a whole there are more wounded in one day’s shooting than all the packs in the kingdom kill in a whole season.
I recall an incident when hunting in Lanarkshire which illustrates the often mistaken ideas of humanitarians. I had a beaten hare in front of me that took to the roads. I came to a cross road where hounds checked, and met a lady whom I asked if she had viewed my hare. She said yes, but she would rather not tell me where she had gone, as she looked on hunting as cruel. I told her I respected her feelings of humanity, and if I were of her opinion I would give up hunting. I asked her her views on shooting and whether she did not think it was cruel that so many things died from wounds. She replied, “No good sportsmen ever wound things, they always kill them dead.” How many of us, I wonder, could under this definition claim to be good sportsmen?
An officer of that excellent Society the S.P.C.A. once met me returning home with hounds from hunting, and, noticing a lame hound, was going to run me in for cruelty. I told him if he could insure prevention of such cruelty I hoped he would come and stay with me for the winter.
Some people would have us believe that a hunted animal suffers agonies of mind (vide _Modern Society_, 18th February, 1899), and Somervile’s _Chace_ conveys that impression. This no one who has had much experience of hunting believes. Many of these animals spend their lives in a state of being hunted by others, dogs, cats, vermin, etc., and they are chiefly occupied in avoiding their natural enemies. Fright they may feel, as a hare will if put up by a person walking across a field, but their attempts at escape are their only thought, and they do not realise the penalty of being caught. I don’t think they are at all distressed until they are dead beat, when the end generally comes quickly and surely.
Objection has been taken to certain terms used in hunting, such as “pulled her down,” “ran into her,” “rolled her over,” “dead beat,” “breaking her up,” “blooding the hounds.” The first three, critics may not know, simply imply catching the hare. “Dead beat”—this feeling is also experienced by any Eton boy in the School Steeplechase when he reaches the School Jump. The last two taking place after the death of the hare can scarcely be urged as cruel.
Do these humanitarians inveigh against poisoning rats, destroying wasps’ nests, burning these insects alive, using fly-papers, or mouse-traps? Do they eat game, fish, meat, or have they ever tasted _foie gras_ or lobster?
The Humanitarian Society claim to have accomplished the abolition of the Royal Buckhounds by appealing to Queen Victoria’s tender feelings. I think there were other and more cogent reasons.
The late Provost, the late Head Master, the late Vice-Provost, the late Mr. R. S. de Havilland and others have been accused of brutality and callousness. All who knew them and who understand the subject resent such baseless attacks on men of kindly disposition and balanced judgment.
The _Spectator_ says, “These Eton brutalities are condemned by the modern spirit of humaneness,” and quotes the rules of the Founder as follows, “No scholar, fellow, chaplain, or other minister, or servant of the College, shall keep or have hunting dogs, nets for hunting, ferrets, falcons or hawks,” urging that the Founder’s intention was humanitarian. There is no doubt, however, that this was simply the reservation of sporting rights. A similar clause is common in leases to this day.
The arguments I have read or heard show a deplorable ignorance of the subject.
I have been asked to give my views on the date on which hare hunting should stop, and on the killing of heavy does, a subject made much of by an ephemeral called the _Beagler Boy_. In 1906, in consequence of correspondence between Mr. Fitzroy Stewart and the Head Master of Eton on the subject of the School Beagles, and which mainly referred to the date on which hare hunting should cease, the _County Gentleman_ asked for the opinion of some of the leading masters of harriers and beagles on this point, three questions being asked, viz.:
1. Do you think it advisable to fix the date for the end of the hare-hunting season, and if so what date would you fix?
2. Do you subscribe to the opinion that a heavy hare has no scent?
3. Have you known in your experience heavy hares to be either run or chopped by hounds?
Among the replies sent was the following from Mr. George Race (of Road Farm, Biggleswade), than whom no one was more qualified to give an opinion, he having been M.H. for seventy years:
“Dear Sir,—In answer to your questions I can only tell you I do not consider it advisable to fix any date for discontinuing hare hunting; and for this reason. In the south of England hares get heavy two or three weeks earlier than they do in the north, and also in an extensive country well stocked with hares you can of course go on longer than in a small country not well stocked.
As to the second question I am quite sure that a heavy hare emits little or no scent.
As to your last question, I certainly have known heavy hares chopped by hounds and also run by hounds.”
My own letter written from the High Peak country at that time was as follows, viz.:
“Dear Sir,—In reply to your letter and the special questions:
1. I am not certain that a fixed date for closing the hare-hunting season is advisable. There is no doubt that in some countries such as this hunting can be carried on a week or two later than in many others. If a date were fixed I agree that the middle (16th) of March would be the best date, all things considered, though it would not be early enough to obviate the occasional killing of heavy does.
2. No; but I am certain that a heavy hare has comparatively little scent.
3. Yes, of course, but owing to her carrying less scent and to her short running, a doe hare is seldom killed when heavy. I have been particular to observe when hunting in March for years past whether a heavy hare is often killed, and have found it not to be the case. I doubt if my hounds kill on an average more than one each season. This year a brace have been killed—one in February.”
On the first point Beckford says, “It is a question which I know not how to answer, as it depends as well on the quantity of game that you have as on the country you hunt.”
In conclusion, I think that without doubt, when looking back on the Great War, the country owes a deep debt of gratitude to all sports which tend to make a man manly (I am afraid I do not include such sports as coursing or pigeon shooting among them, as I am of opinion that woodcraft is a _sine qua non_ to a manly sport). Of all sports hunting most engenders initiative, close observation, quick decision, and courage, qualities essential to all leaders in the several branches of the Forces of the Crown, and which were conspicuous during the late War in the cases of men who had been entered to hunting. The horses too were a great national asset in that crisis. There could be no better initial training for the hunting field than running with beagles. I can look back on five years as M.F.H. and twenty-two seasons with harriers, but my initiation was with the Eton beagles, and I did not follow them without learning many useful lessons in the noble art. I hope many future generations of Etonians will profit by them. I still have a hare’s pad set up killed by them on 18th February, 1879. I have a warm feeling for the hare, and never quite like shooting one: she has afforded me much sport, much pleasure, and much benefit, and if I could forget the fox—and, of course, the hound and the horse—I could agree with Martial that
“Inter quadrupedes gloria prima lepus.”
APPENDIX I.
LIST OF MASTERS AND WHIPS.
_College Pack._
1857
R. H. Carter (Master) J. A. Willis
1858
R. H. Carter (Master) H. St. A. Goodrich T. J. Huddleston
1859
R. H. Carter (Master) H. St. A. Goodrich H. M. Palmer
1860
T. J. Huddleston T. J. P. Carter E. E. Witt
1861
E. E. Witt (Master) A. C. Custance H. W. More-Molyneux
1862
E. E. Witt (Master) H. W. More-Molyneux C. R. Moore
1863
G. G. J. Thackeray (Master) C. R. Moore J. B. Wood
1864
R. H. J. L. B. Lewis (Master) J. B. Wood A. A. Wace R. V. Somers-Smith
1865
A. J. Pound (Master) R. V. Somers-Smith A. G. Tindal
1866
A. J. Pound (Master) F. E. Armitstead G. Gosset
_Oppidan Pack._
1858
N. E. Charrington (Master) G. C. K. Johnstone
1859
N. E. Charrington (Master) G. C. K. Johnstone C. Tayleur
1860
R. E. Moore (Master) H. O. L. Baker
1861
J. G. Chambers (Master) J. H. A. Schneider H. P. Senhouse
1862
W. T. Trench (Master) Hon. F. G. Pelham H. M. Meysey-Thompson
1863
Hon. F. G. Pelham (Master) H. M. Meysey-Thompson W. R. Griffiths
1864
H. M. Meysey-Thompson (Master) A. Turnor S. H. Sandbach
1865
C. S. Newton (Master) R. F. Meysey-Thompson E. Royds
1866
E. Royds (Master) W. M. Milner G. R. Sandbach
_Amalgamated Hunt._
1867
W. C. Calvert (Master) F. E. Armitstead, K.S. Hon. H. P. C. S. Monck
1868
W. C. Calvert (Master) F. E. Armitstead, K.S. F. Johnstone
1869
F. Johnstone (Master) W. M. Browne, K.S. E. P. Rawnsley
1870
G. H. Longman (Master) F. A. Currey G. L. Wickham
1871
G. H. Longman (Master) G. H. Armitstead, K.S. Hon. H. C. Legge
1872
F. Fenwick (Master) Hon. R. Parker A. H. Charlesworth
1873
Hon. C. Harbord (Master) W. A. Harford V. W. Vickers
1874
W. A. Harford (Master) Hon. E. W. Parker L. H. Jones
1875
Hon. E. W. Parker (Master) A. C. B. Mynors J. B. T. Chevallier, K.S. A. M. Wilson
1876
R. Hunt (Master) J. B. T. Chevallier, K.S. G. H. Portal C. P. Selby-Bigge
1877
R. Hunt (Master) G. H. Portal E. K. Douglas C. A. Fellowes
1878
E. K. Douglas (Master) R. D. Anderson A. Gosling C. B. Harvey
1879
A. W. H. Beach (Master) Hon. M. B. Hawke Lord Eskdail G. Streatfeild
1880
Hon. D. H. Lascelles (Master) N. MacGregor Hon. G. E. Milles G. L. Holdsworth
1881
Hon. D. H. Lascelles (Master) G. L. Holdsworth Hon. A. E. Parker J. Hargreaves
1882
Hon. A. E. Parker (Master) J. Hargreaves T. C. Toler F. S. Maude
1883
Hon. A. E. Parker (Master) J. Hargreaves Lord Newtown-Butler F. Douglas-Pennant
1884
Lord Newtown-Butler (Master) F. Douglas-Pennant B. G. H. Vernon F. A. Soames
1885
T. H. Barnard (Master) F. P. Barnett Hon. G. H.-D.-Willoughby C. M. F. Luttrell
1886
F. P. Barnett (Master) Hon. G. H.-D.-Willoughby C. M. F. Luttrell Hon. C. Douglas-Pennant
1887
Hon. T. W. Brand (Master) Lord C. Cavendish-Bentinck E. G. Hills W. H. L. Allgood
1888
W. S. Gosling (Master) F. E. Goad Hon. J. H. Ward G. Fenwick
1889
Hon. J. H. Ward (Master) M. B. Furse, K.S. L. Caldecott C. G. Dalgety
1890
Hon. R. A. Ward (Master) V. Nickalls E. Lee A. H. Dickinson
1891
E. G. Campbell (Master) E. Lee Lord Brackley F. W. Wignall
1892
A. M. Grenfell (Master) F. Hargreaves Hon. R. Ward J. A. Morrison
1893
W. R. O. Kynaston (Master) Hon. F. W. G. Egerton R. S. Grenfell J. V. Hermon
1894
H. Baker-Creswell (Master) T. D. Pilkington F. M. A. Atkinson-Clark E. R. Davson
1895.
G. C. Sanford Hodgson (Master) A. W. F. Baird D. O. Dunlop Hon. G. E. F. Ward
1896
Hon. G. E. F. Ward (Master) C. M. Black Hon. C. W. H. Cavendish G. Robarts
1897
G. Robarts (Master) A. D. Legard J. J. Pawson R. Lubbock, K.S.
1898
H. R. Milvain (Master) W. H. Chapman A. D. Pilkington W. T. Hodgson
1899
F. O. Grenfell (Master) R. N. Grenfell E. B. Denison H. K. Longman
1900
H. K. Longman (Master) L. Heathcoat-Amory Lord Dalmeny G. Hargreaves
1901
R. G. H. Howard-Vyse (Master) C. E. Lambert J. S. Mellor N. M. Wilson
1902
R. G. H. Howard-Vyse (Master) N. M. Wilson A. F. Lambert J. H. Drake
1903
A. F. Lambert (Master) C. R. H. Wiggin K. I. Nicholl St. J. M. Lambert
1903-1904
C. Romer Williams (Master) A. R. Gilbey N. W. Loder Lord Maidstone } (3rd Whips) P. M. N. Wroughton }
1904-1905
P. M. N. Wroughton (Master) E. A. Lycett-Green M. C. Albright G. J. C. Browne
1905-1906
P. M. N. Wroughton (Master) H. S. Loder J. F. Montagu G. Buxton
1906-1907
H. S. Loder (Master) G. R. Wiggin S. G. Menzies G. Kekewich
1907-1908.
S. G. Menzies (Master) G. Kekewich G. H. Gilbey I. A. Straker
1908-1909.
S. G. Menzies (Master) F. W. M. Cornwallis G. W. Barclay R. F. Drake
1909-1910.
G. W. Barclay (Master) R. F. Drake W. S. Cornwallis K. S. M. Gladstone
1910-1911
K. S. M. Gladstone (Master) L. C. Gibbs W. P. Browne W. Holland-Hibbert } (3rd Whips) J. C. R. Rawnsley }
1911-1912
L. C. Gibbs (Master) W. P. Browne G. K. Dunning N. W. H. Gladstone } (3rd whips) E. G. K. S. May. }
1912-1913
G. K. Dunning (Master) N. W. H. Gladstone H. A. St. George R. E. F. Courage
1913-1914
C. C. H. Hilton Green } (Masters) R. D. Crossman } Lord Apsley L. C. Nash R. W. G. Dill
1914-1915
R. D. Crossman } (Masters) G. G. Cox-Cox } R. W. G. Dill } (1st Whips) A. Knowles } B. A. Wilson P. H. G. H. S. Hartley
1915-1916
G. G. Cox-Cox } (Masters) W. A. D. Eley } G. Clapham R. F. Goad T. M. Nussey
1916-1917
R. F. Goad } (Masters) H. K. M. Kindersley } T. M. Nussey } (1st Whips) J. A. Dewhurst } S. A. Parker Hon. E. V. Rhys
1917. Winter Half.
S. A. Parker (Master) Hon. E. V. Rhys P. G. Ward Jackson Marquess of Worcester
1918-1919. No hunting.
1920. Easter Half.
F. M. G. Glyn (Master) J. P. Dewhurst C. H. S. Dixon T. C. Barnett-Barker
1920-1921.
T. C. Barnett-Barker (Master) J. M. Hopkinson T. C. Gouldsmith A. C. Crossley
APPENDIX II.
RECORD OF SPORT.
_Amalgamated Hunt._
1867
Hunting days 27 Hares killed 3
1868
Hunting days 29 Hares killed 2
1869
Hunting days 26 Hares killed 7
1870
Hunting days 18 Hares killed 3
1871
Hunting days 24 Hares killed 4
1872
Hunting days 29 Hares killed 6
1873
Hunting days 22 Hares killed 5
1874
Hunting days 22 Hares killed 4
1875
Hunting days 22 Hares killed 4
1876
Hunting days 34 Hares killed 15
1877
Hunting days 27 Hares killed 17
1878
Hunting days 26 Hares killed 11
1879
Hunting days 25 Hares killed 13
1880
Hunting days 25 Hares killed 9
1881
Hunting days 25 Hares killed 13
1882
Hunting days 27 Hares killed 12
1883
Hunting days 26 Hares killed 7
1884
Hunting days 28 Hares killed 11
1885
Hunting days 24 Hares killed 8
1886
Hunting days 37 Hares killed 17
1887
Hunting days 30 Hares killed 11
1888
Hunting days 25 Hares killed 5
1889
Hunting days 30 Hares killed 11
1890
Hunting days 26 Hares killed 12
1891
Hunting days 27 Hares killed 6
1892
Hunting days 26 Hares killed 14
1893
Hunting days 31 Hares killed 8
1894
Hunting days 22 Hares killed 11
1895
Hunting days 21 Hares killed 7
1896
Hunting days 29 Hares killed 3
1897
Hunting days 30 Hares killed 15
1898
Hunting days 30 Hares killed 7
1899
Hunting days 31 Hares killed 13
1900
Hunting days 24 Hares killed 5
1900-1901
Hunting days 28 Hares killed 5
1901-1902
Hunting days 37 Hares killed 11
1903
Hunting days 30 Hares killed 9
1903-1904
Hunting days 42 Hares killed 25
1904-1905
Hunting days 40 Hares killed 20
1905-1906
Hunting days 48 Hares killed 22
1906-1907
Hunting days 37 Hares killed 10
1907-1908
Hunting days 42 Hares killed 24
1908-1909
Hunting days 43 Hares killed 25
1909-1910
Hunting days 36 Hares killed 19
1910-1911
Hunting days 36 Hares killed 27
1911-1912
Hunting days 43 Hares killed 28
1912-1913
Hunting days 45 Hares killed 33
1913-1914
Hunting days 49 Hares killed [12]38
1914-1915
Hunting days 31 Hares killed 22
1915-1916
Hunting days 34 Hares killed 9
1916-1917
Hunting days 31 Hares killed 12
1917. Winter Half.
Hunting days 16 Hares killed 9
1918-1919. No hunting.
1920
Hunting days 19 Hares killed 3
1920-1921
Hunting days 49 Hares killed 36
APPENDIX III.
LETTER FROM F. GRENFELL TO _Eton College Chronicle_, DEC. 1899.
The existing arrangements for the keeping of the Eton beagles having proved extravagant and not altogether satisfactory, I now propose to try and form a plan which will in the future put the Hunt on a sound basis. The first step is to build our own kennels, and it is with much satisfaction I am able to state that the Governing Body see no objection to the plan, and have appointed the Building Committee to consider it. Should kennels be built, the E.C.H. will benefit in four ways:
(i) The kennels would belong exclusively to the College.
(ii) The kennel huntsman would be a College Servant.
(iii) A valuable pack might be got together.
(iv) All at a less expense than it has cost in the past.
In regard to No. (iii) there is much to be said, discussed, agreed to and disagreed from.
We will suppose that the E.C.H. be a beagle pack—as in years past it has been a beagle-harrier pack of all sizes. If it be a beagle pack, it must have no hounds over 16 inches, as 16 inches is the limit of a beagle. The pack should not be smaller than 15½ inches to 16 inches, as there are several reasons to object to in having smaller hounds.
1. The enormous field which turns out, numbering often 200 people, and a small, and therefore slow, pack is almost impossible, as some of the 200 would be overrunning the hounds all the time.
2. We only hunt for two or three hours in the afternoon.
3. The country that is hunted consists almost entirely of plough, which, of course, stops hounds to a great extent.
Perhaps the plan that W. B. H. proposes in _E.C.C._ of Nov. 17th could be brought into consideration: (1) “That the Master of the Beagles should summon a meeting of present and old Etonians interested in the subject (I think old Masters might be added to the list) to decide, now and for ever, upon a standard height of the Eton Beagles.” (2) “That the standard should be fixed with a view to showing as much sport to their followers as possible in the limited number of hours at their disposal.” (3) “That the matter should be thoroughly thrashed out, and that it should not be in the power of succeeding Masters to change either the standard of height or type fixed for their benefit by their predecessors on due consideration.”
Having disposed of all last year’s pack I have bought an entirely new pack of hounds, 15½ inches and very level. Though some hounds are rather lacking in good looks, the pack in itself are a level lot, and very good workers. As we hope to have the new kennels, a very great improvement will be made, namely “walk” will be done away with. It is impossible to have a good pack, i.e. a pack that works well together, and several new hounds, drafts from other packs, bought, and for the remaining ten months are at walk, which in several cases means that a boy at the College takes them home, and gets his moneyworth out of them by hunting drags, rabbits and sometimes hares; and in other cases they are taken home, forgotten, neglected, and sent back in January, so as to hunt at once, in a most disgraceful condition. Can this pack, then, be expected to hunt when they are all collected as well as a pack kept and hunted from year to year, doing daily exercise in the summer, and good fifteen miles’ road exercise three days a week in October, November and December, with, if possible, an occasional hunt in between?
And therefore a pack, 16 inches, having been hunted year by year together, and got fit and properly kept, will go far faster than a pack straying for 50 yards or so, with a hound 20 yards or so ahead of the rest, etc., of 18, 17, 16, 15 and 14 inch hounds. These heights are no exaggeration, one year there being two hounds 19½ and two 12 inches. And if “walk” continues, these heights must be varied like this, as it is impossible to get a level pack in January.
Now we will suppose that the hounds are kept in their kennels always throughout the summer; then the new Master can be with his hounds all the summer and good blood can be got in the pack by sending bitches to well-known beagle packs, and in time a very good strain could be got. All the puppies would be sent out to walk till they are twelve months old and fit to join the pack. I don’t think there would be any difficulty in finding either boys or farmers to walk the puppies, and a small challenge cup could be given, as in other packs, for the hound best walked. Thus a good entry could be made, and the old hounds drafted. Of course, to get a good and well-bred pack would take about twelve years; but we all hope at some future time or other to see the E.C.H. entered in the stud book, and to see the first prize at Peterborough won by a hound belonging to the E.C.H. There is no reason why all this should not take place, provided a good kennelman is kept, and the Master devotes heart and soul to his hounds, and is careful to get good fresh blood in the pack.
If all this be taken into consideration, I am sure you will find that as good sport is shown by the smaller and level pack, and as many hares killed.
Beckford says: “You will find nothing so essential to your sport as that your hounds should run well together; nor can this end be better attained than by confining yourself, as near as you can, to those of the same sort, viz. size and shape. A great excellence in a pack of hounds is the head they carry; and that pack be said to go the fastest that can run 10 miles with the fewest checks. As a good level pack at a check should spread like a rocket, what can be finer than a pack like the horses of the sun, ‘all abreast’?”
I hope you will excuse me, Mr. Editor, for trespassing on your valuable space at such a length, but these are only suggestions on my part, and I hope the matter will be thoroughly sifted and discussed; and let us hope that some authority on the subject will put forth his views. Let your hounds be
“Facies non omnibus una, Nec diversa tamen, qualem decet esse sonorum.”
APPENDIX IV.
LETTER FROM A MASTER OF HOUNDS OF FORTY YEARS’ EXPERIENCE.
_Behaviour and Control of Field._
When a Master is hunting his own hounds it is very advisable to have either a joint Master, or a field Master, whose business it is to keep the field well away from huntsman and hounds when they come to a check. The field should remember that to press hounds at a check is most disastrous to sport, and they should keep well away and wait till hounds hit off the line, and certainly not follow the huntsman about when he is making a cast. In hare hunting this is most essential, as a hare will often run back on its own line or squat; if the field is walking about on the line it is impossible for hounds to pick it up. The huntsman should know to a few yards where the hounds last had the line, and the moment that he says “Hold hard” everyone should stop and stand perfectly still and not talk: the least thing will get hounds’ heads up, and once up it takes time to get them down again. Another thing, never halloo a hare; if any one sees a hare, hold up his cap at the place where he has seen the hare; if the huntsman does not see him, go to the huntsman and tell him, 1st where the hare was seen, 2nd how long it had been gone, 3rd which direction it was going in; a minute lost in giving correct information will often save many minutes in getting hounds properly on the line.
APPENDIX V.
THE USE OF THE HORN.
_By H. H. Howard-Vyse._
With beagles the horn should be used sparingly, and, except at a kill, for one purpose only, to call hounds to one. There is little more to be said except that the sound of the horn carries a very short distance, and that it should therefore be blown with all the strength that the huntsman’s lungs permit. To call hounds to one when drawing or casting, a short blast is usually employed; to bring them on to the line of a viewed hare, the note should be a longer one causing more excitement; the same applies to the occasion of a kill; and, in calling hounds together at the end of the day, it is well to use a long-drawn-out note with a die-away tinge in it.
FOOTNOTES
[1] As a matter of fact this is incorrect. The actual number of subscribers in 1859 was 58.
[2] Purchased at end of season by W. Milner (the late Sir W. Milner).
[3] How interesting to hear of troubles with farmers nearly sixty years ago! The author can definitely state that to-day (season 1921-22) only one field is forbidden to the E.C.H.
[4] _Eton College Chronicle._
[5] Mistake for Hon. G. Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby. Lord C. Cavendish-Bentinck was first whip next year (1887).
[6] Notable exceptions were G. W. Barclay (killed in the War), son of Mr. E. E. Barclay, M.F.H. the Puckeridge, and K. S. M. Gladstone, who had had a pack of his own in Essex before he went to Eton. These two Masters of the E.C.H. undoubtedly did a very great deal to bring the pack to a high standard.
[7] To-day the season begins, subject to the Head Master’s permission, on Oct. 15th.
[8] The late Mr. F. H. Rawlins.
[9] Trinity Foot Beagles.
[10] Since Barnett-Barker’s days the subscription has been lowered to £1 10s.
[11] Perhaps this is a fitting place to mention that Bambridge & Co. by Windsor Bridge set up both masks and pads extremely well.
[12] The record.
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