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.