On Hunting

Now small dogs often drop out of the running through their want of size; hook-nosed dogs have no mouth and can’t hold the hare; grey-eyed dogs and blinkers have bad sight; ungainly dogs look ugly; stiff ones are in a bad way at the end of the hunt; no work can be got out of the weak and the thin-coated ones; those that are lanky and ill-proportioned are heavy movers and carry themselves anyhow; cowards leave their work and give up and slink away from the sun into shady places and lie down; dogs with no nose seldom scent the hare and only with difficulty; and those with bad feet, even if they are plucky, can’t stand the hard work, and tire because they are foot-sore.

Moreover, hounds of the same breed vary much in behaviour when tracking. Some go ahead as soon as they find the line without giving a sign, and there is nothing to show that they are on it. Some move the ears only, but keep the tail still; others keep the ears still and wag the tip of the tail.

Others prick up the ears[*](The Greek hound had short ears (cf. 4.1) like a foxterrier.) and run frowning along the track, dropping their tails and putting them between their legs. Many do none of these things, but rush about madly round the track, and when they happen upon it, stupidly trample out the traces, barking all the time.

Others again, continually circling and straying, get ahead of the line when clean off it and pass the hare, and every time they run against the line, begin guessing, and if they catch sight of the hare, tremble and never go for her until they see her stir.

Hounds that run forward and frequently examine the discoveries of the others when they are casting about and pursuing have no confidence in themselves; while those that will not let their cleverer mates go forward, but fuss and keep them back, are confident to a fault. Others will drive ahead, eagerly following false lines and getting wildly excited over anything that turns up, well knowing that they are playing the fool; others will do the same thing in ignorance. Those that stick to game paths and don’t recognise the true line are poor tools.

A hound that ignores the trail[*](The trail of the hare is the path she takes in going to her seat.—Beckford.) and races over the track of the hare on the run is ill-bred. Some, again, will pursue hotly at first, and then slack off from want of pluck; others will cut in ahead and then get astray; while others foolishly dash into roads and go astray, deaf to all recall.

Many abandon the pursuit and go back through their hatred of game, and many through their love of man. Others try to mislead by baying on the track, representing false lines as true ones.

Some, though free from this fault, leave their own work when they hear a shout from another quarter while they are running, and make for it recklessly. When pursuing some are dubious, others are full of assumptions but their notions are wrong. Then there are the skirters, some of whom merely pretend to hunt, while others out of jealousy perpetually scamper about together beside the line.

Now most of these faults are natural defects, but some by which hounds are spoilt are due to unintelligent training. Anyhow such hounds may well put a keen hunter off the sport. What hounds of the same breed[*](The author’s ideal harrier is clearly the Castorian.) ought to look like and what they should be in other respects I will now explain.

First, then, they should be big. Next, the head should be light, flat[*](In profile.) and muscular; the lower parts of the forehead sinewy; the eyes prominent, black and sparkling; the forehead broad, with a deep dividing line; the ears small and thin with little hair behind; the neck long, loose and round; the chest broad and fairly fleshy; the shoulder-blades slightly outstanding from the shoulders; the forelegs short, straight, round and firm; the elbows straight[*](i.e., not bent inwards or outwards.); the ribs not low down on the ground,[*](So Pollux read, for he says μὴ πρὸς τὴν γῆν βαθυνομένας. The sense is then that the ribs are not to be low on the ground when the hound is couchant, but well tucked up behind. ἐπίπαν βαθείας, deep throughout, would apply to the depth from wall to wall, and the meaning would be that the ribs are to contract towards the flanks.) but sloping in an oblique line; the loins fleshy, of medium length, and neither too loose nor too hard; the flanks of medium size; the hips round and fleshy at the back, not close at the top, and smooth on the inside[*](i.e., without folds in the coat towards the loins.); the under part of the belly itself slim; the tail long, straight and thin; the thighs hard; the shanks[*](From the elbows to the feet.) long, round and solid; the hind-legs much longer than the fore-legs and slightly bent; the feet round.

Hounds like these will be strong in appearance, agile, well-proportioned, and speedy; and they will have a jaunty expression and a good mouth.

When tracking they should get out of the game paths quickly, hold their heads well down and aslant, smiling when they find the scent and lowering their ears; then they should all go forward together along the trail towards the form circling frequently,[*](A participle to govern κύκλους πολλοὺς has dropped out of the text.) with eyes continually on the move and tails wagging.

As soon as they are close on the hare, they should let the huntsman know, quickening the pace and showing more emphatic signs by their excitement, movements of the head and eyes, changes of attitude, by looking up and looking into the covert and returning again and again to the hare’s form, by leaps forward, backward and to the side, displays of unaffected agitation and overpowering delight at being near the hare.

They should pursue with unremitting vigour, giving tongue and barking freely, dogging the hare’s steps wherever she goes. They should be fast and brilliant in the chase, frequently casting about and giving tongue in the right fashion; and they should not leave the track and go back to the huntsman.

Along with this appearance and behaviour they should have pluck, keen noses, sound feet and good coats. They will be plucky if they don’t leave the hunting-ground when the heat is oppressive; keen-nosed if they smell the hare on bare, parched and sunny ground in the dog days[*](The older commentators are probably right in understanding the allusion to be to the Dog-star, not to the Sun.); sound in the feet if at the same season their feet are not torn to bits during a run in the mountains; they will have a good coat if the hair is fine, thick and soft.

The colour of the hounds should not be entirely tawny, black or white; for this is not a sign of good breeding: on the contrary, unbroken colour indicates a wild strain.

So the tawny and the black hounds should show a patch of white about the face, and the white hounds a tawny patch. At the top of the thighs the hair should be straight and thick, and on the loins and at the lower end of the tail, but it should be moderately thick higher up.

It is advisable to take the hounds to the mountains often, but less frequently to cultivated land. For in the mountains it is possible to track and follow a hare without hindrance, whereas it is impossible to do either in cultivated land owing to the game paths.

It is also well to take the hounds out into rough ground, whether they find a hare or not; for they get sound in the feet, and hard work in such country is good for their bodies.

In summer they should be out till midday, in winter at any hour of the day, in autumn at any time except midday, and before evening during the spring; for at these times the temperature is mild.