[13] Lit. "Let them follow up the trail." [14] Lit. "fawning and wagging their tails." [15] Lit. "bed" or "lair."[16] Or, "by rapid shiftings of attitude, by looks now thrown backward and now forwards to the . . ." Reading {kai apo ton anablemmaton kai emblemmaton ton epi tas kathedras tou l.}, or if with L. D., {kai apo ton a. kai emblemmaton eis ton ulen kai anastremmaton ton epi tas k.}, transl. "now looking back at the huntsman and nowstaring hard into the covert, and again right-about-face in the direction of the hare's sitting-place."[17] Lit. "form"; "the place where puss is seated."Once she is off, the pack should pursue with vigour.[18] They must not relax their hold, but with yelp and bark full cry insist on keeping close anddogging puss at every turn. Twist for twist and turn for turn, they, too, must follow in a succession of swift and brilliant bursts, interrupted by frequent doublings; while ever and again they give tongue and yet again till the very welkin rings.[19] One thing they must not do, and that is, leave the scent and return crestfallen to the huntsman.[20]
[18] Lit. "let them follow up the chase vigorously, and not relax, with yelp and bark."[19] {dikaios}, Sturz, "non temere"; "and not without good reason." Al. "a right good honest salvo of barks."[20] Lit. "Let them not hark back to join the huntsman, and desert the trail."Along with this build and method of working, hounds should possess four points. They should have pluck, sound feet, keen noses, and sleek coats. The spirited, plucky hound will prove his mettle by refusing to leave the chase, however stifling the weather; a good nose is shown by his capacity for scenting the hare on barren and dry ground exposed to the sun, and that when the orb is at the zenith;[21] soundness of foot in the fact that the dog may course over mountains during the same season, and yet his feet will not be torn to pieces; and a good coat means the possession of light, thick, soft, and silky hair.[22]
[21] i.e. "at mid-day"; or, "in the height of summer"; al. "during the dog-days"; "at the rising of the dog-star."[22] See Pollux, ib. 59; Arrian, vi. 1.
As to the colour proper for a hound,[23] it should not be simply tawny, nor absolutely black or white, which is not a sign of breeding, but monotonous--a simplicity suggestive of the wild animal.[24] Accordingly the red dog should show a bloom of white hair about the muzzle, and so should the black, the white commonly showing red. On the top of the thigh the hair should be straight and thick, as also on the loins and on the lower portion of the stern, but of a moderate thickness only on the upper parts.
[23] See Stonehenge, p. 25; Darwin, op. cit. ii. 109.
[24] But see Pollux, ib. 65, who apparently read {gennaion touto to aploun alla therides}; al. Arrian, vi. See Jaques de Fouilloux, "LaVenerie"(ap.E.Talbot,"OeuvrescompletesdeXenophon," traduction, ii. 318).
There is a good deal to be said for taking your hounds frequently into the mountains; not so much for taking them on to cultivated land.[25] And for this reason: the fells offer facilities for hunting and for following the quarry without interruption, while cultivated land, owing to the number of cross roads and beaten paths, presents opportunities for neither. Moreover, quite apart from finding a hare, it is an excellent thing to take your dogs on to rough ground. It is there they will become sound of foot, and in general the benefit to their physique in working over such ground will amply repay you.[26]
[25] Or, "pretty often, and less frequently over."[26] Lit. "they must be benefited in their bodies generally by working over such ground."They should be taken out in summer till mid-day; in winter from sunrise to sundown; in autumn any time except mid-day; and in spring any time before evening. These times will hit the mean of temperature.[27]
[27] Or, "You may count on a moderate temperature at these times."
