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See also:HUNTING (the verbal substantive from " See also:hunt "; O. Eng. huntian, hunta; apparently connected with O. Eng. hentan, See also:Gothic hinpan, to See also:capture, O.H.G. hunda,See also:booty) , the pursuit of See also:game and See also:wild animals, for profit or See also:sport; See also:equivalent to " See also:chase " (like " catch," from See also:Lat. captare, Fr. See also:chasse, Ital. caccia). The circumstances which render necessary 'the habitual pursuit of wild animals, either as a means of subsistence or for self-See also:defence, generally accompany a phase of human progress distinctly inferior to the See also:pastoral and agricultural stages; resorted to as a recreation, however, the practice of the chase in most cases indicates a considerable degree of See also:civilization, and sometimes ultimately be-comes the almost distinctive employment of the classes which are possessed of most leisure and See also:wealth. It is in some of its latter aspects, viz. as a " sport," pursued on fixed rules and principles, that hunting is dealt with here.
See also:Information as to the See also: 78-92, ed. See also:Birch, 1878).dresses and See also:furniture were ornamented with similar subjects.2 The game pursued included the lion, the wild See also:ass, the gazelle and the hare, and the implements chiefly employed seem to have been the See also:javelin and the See also:bow. There are indications that hawking was also known. The See also:Assyrian See also:kings also maintained magnificent parks, or " paradises," in which game of every See also:kind was enclosed; and perhaps it was from them that the See also:Persian sovereigns borrowed the practice mentioned both by See also:Xenophon in the Gyropaedia and by See also:Curtius. According to See also:Herodotus, See also:Cyrus devoted the See also:revenue of four great towns to meet the expenses of his hunting establishments. The circumstances under which the See also:death of the son of See also:Croesus is by the same writer (i. 34-45) related to have occurred, incidentally show in what high estimation the recreation of hunting was held in See also:Lydia. In See also:Palestine game has always been plentiful, and the Biblical indications that it was much sought and duly appreciated are numerous. As means of capture, nets, traps, snares and pitfalls are most frequently alluded to; but the arrow (Isa. vii. 24), the See also:spear and the dart (See also:Job. xli. 26-29) are also mentioned. There is no See also:evidence that the use of the dog (Jos. See also:Ant. iv. 8, ro, not-withstanding) or of the See also:horse in hunting was known among the See also:Jews during the See also:period covered by the Old Testament See also:history; See also:Herod, however, was a keen and successful sportsman, and is recorded by See also:Josephus (B.J. i. 21, 13, compare Ant. xv. 7, 7; xvi. 10, 3) to have killed no fewer than See also:forty See also:head of game (See also:boar, wild ass, See also:deer) in one See also:day. The sporting tastes of the ancient Greeks, as may be gathered from many references in See also:Homer (Il. ix. 538-545; Od. ix. 120, xvii. 295, 316, xix. 429 seq.), had See also:developed at a very See also:early period; they first found adequate See also:literary expression in the See also:work of Xenophon entitled Cynegeticus,3 which expounds his principles and embodies his experience in his favourite See also:art of hunting. The See also:treatise chiefly deals with the capture of the hare; in the author's day the approved method was to find the hare in her See also:form by the use of dogs; when found she was either driven into nets previously set in her runs or else run down in the open. Boar-hunting is also described; it was effected by nets into which the animal was pursued, and in which when fairly entangled he was speared. The stag, according to the same work, was taken by means of a kind of wooden See also:trap (2roSovrpaf3rl), which attached itself to the See also:foot. Lions, leopards, lynxes, panthers and bears are also specially mentioned among the large game; sometimes they were taken in pitfalls, sometimes speared by mounted horsemen. As a writer on field sports Xenophon was followed by See also:Arrian, who in his Cynegeticus, in avowed dependence on his predecessor, seeks to supplement such deficiencies in the earlier treatise as arose from its author's unacquaintance with the dogs of See also:Gaul and the horses of See also:Scythia and See also:Libya. Four books of Cynegetica, extending to about 2100 hexameters, by See also:Oppian have also been preserved; the last of these is incomplete, and it is probable that a fifth at one See also:time existed. The poem contains some See also:good descriptive passages, as well as some very curious indications of the See also:state of zoological knowledge in the author's time. Hunting scenes are frequently represented in ancient See also:works of art, especially the boar-hunt, and also that of the hare. In See also:Roman literature allusions to the pleasures of the chase (wild ass, boar, hare, See also:fallow deer being specially mentioned as favourite game) are not wanting (Virg. Georg. iii. 409-413; See also:Eel. iii. 75; See also:Hor. Od. i. 1, 25-28); it seems to have been viewed; however, with less favour as an occupation for gentlemen, and to have been chiefly See also:left to inferiors and professionals. The immense vivaria or theriotropheia, in which various wild animals, such as boars, stags and See also:roe-deer, were kept in a state of semi-domestication, were developments which arose at a comparatively See also:late period; as also were the venationes in the See also:circus, although these are mentioned as having been known as early as r86 B.C. The bald and meagre poem of Grattius Faliscus on hunting (Cynegetica) is modelled upon Xenophon's See also:prose work; a still extant fragment (315 lines) of a similar poem with the same See also:title, of much later date, by Nem.esianus, seems to have at one 2 See See also:Layard (See also:Nineveh, ii. 431, 432), who cites Ammian. Marcell. See also:xxvi. 6, and Athen. xii. 9. 3 Engl. transl. by See also:Blane. Historic Field Sports. time formed the introduction to an extended work corresponding to that of Oppian.. That the See also:Romans had borrowed some things in the art of hunting from the Gauls may be inferred from the name canis gallicus (See also:Spanish galgo) for a greyhound, which is to be met with both in See also:Ovid and See also:Martial; also in the words (canis) vertragus and segusius, both of See also:Celtic origin.' According to See also:Strabo (p. 200) the Britons also bred dogs well adapted for hunting purposes. The addiction of the See also:Franks in later centuries to the chase is evidenced by the frequency with which not only the laity but also the See also:clergy were warned by provincial See also:councils against expending so much of their time and See also:money on hounds, See also:hawks and falcons; and we have similar See also:proof with regard to the habits of other See also:Teutonic nations subsequent to the introduction of See also:Christianity.' Originally among the See also:northern nations sport was open to every one 3 except to slaves, who were not permitted to See also:bear arms; the growth of the See also:idea of game-preserving kept See also:pace nips the development of See also:feudalism. For its ultimate development in See also:Britain see See also:FOREST See also:LAW, where also the distinction between }casts of forest or venery, beasts of chase and beasts an.l fowls of See also:warren is explained. See also GAME See also:LAWS.
% aferra Hunting.—The See also:term " hunting " has come to be applied specially to the pursuit of such quarries as the stag or fox, or to following an artificially laid See also:scent, with horse and See also:hound. It thus corresponds to the Fr. chasse au course, as distinguished from chasse au tir, a l'oiseau, &c., and to the Ger. hetzjagd as distinguished from See also:hirsch. In the following See also:article the See also:English practice is mainly considered.
Doubtless the early inhabitants of Britain shared to a large extent in the habits of the other Celtic peoples; the fact that they kept good hunting dogs is vouched for by Strabo; and an interesting See also:illustration of the manner in which these were used is given in the inscription quoted by See also:Orelli (n. 1603)—" Silvano Invicto Sacrum—oh aprum eximiae formae captum, quem multi antecessores pracdari non potuerunt." See also:Asser, the biographer of See also:Alfred the Great, states that before the See also:prince was twelve years of See also:age he " was a most See also:expert and active See also:hunter, and excelled in all the branches of that See also:noble art, to which he applied with incessant labour and amazing success." 4 Of his See also:grandson See also:Athelstan it is related by See also: ' References will be found in See also: In The Chase of the Wild Red Deer, Mr Collyns says that the earliest See also:record of a pack of staghounds in the Exmoor See also:district is in 1598, when See also:Hugh Polland, See also:Queen See also: In the work of " See also:Nimrod " (C. J. See also:Apperley), entitled The Chase, there is (p. 4) an See also:extract from a See also:letter from Lord See also:Arundel, dated See also:February 1833, in which the writer says that his ancestor, Lord Arundel, kept a pack of foxhounds between 1690 and 1700, and that they remained in the family till 1782, when they were sold to the celebrated Hugh See also:Meynell, of Quorndon See also: In our great-grandfathers' time the hounds met early, and found the fox by the See also:drag, that is, by the See also:line he took to his See also:kennel on his return from a foraging expedition. Hunting the 8 Le Art de venerie, translated with See also:preface and notes by Sir Henry See also:Dryden (1893), new edition by See also:Miss A. Dryden (1909), including The See also:Craft of Venerie from a 15th-century MS. and a 13th-century poem Le Chasse d'on cep. drag was doubtless a great test of See also:nose, but many good runs must have been lost thereby, for the fox must often have heard the hounds upwind, and have moved off before they could get on good terms with him. At the See also:present day, the woodlands are neither so large nor so numerous as they formerly were, while there are many more gorse covers; therefore, instead of hunting the drag up to it, a much quicker way of getting to work is to find a fox in his kennel; and, the See also:hour of the See also:meeting being later, the fox is not likely to be gorged with See also:food, and so unable to take care of himself at the pace at which the See also:modern foxhound travels. Cub hunting carried out on a proper principle is one of the secrets of a successful See also:season. To the man who cares for hunting, as distinct from See also:riding, See also:September and October are not the least enjoyable months of the whole hunting season. As soon as the See also:young entry have recovered from the operation of " rounding," arrangements for cub hunting begin. The hounds must have first of all walking, then trotting and fast exercise, so that their feet may be hardened, and all superfluous See also:fat worked off by the last See also:week in August. So far as the hounds are concerned, the object of cub hunting is to See also:teach them their See also:duty; it is a See also:dress See also:rehearsal of the November business. In ccmpany with a certain proportion of old hounds, the youngsters learn to stick to the scent of a fox, in spite of the fondness they have acquired for that of a hare, from See also:running about when at walk. When tubbing begins, a start is made at 4 or 5 A.M., and then the system is adopted of tracking the cub by his drag. A certain amount of See also:blood is of course indispensable for hounds, but it should never be forgotten that a fox cub of seven or eight months old, though tolerably cunning, is not so very strong; the huntsman should not, therefore, be over-eager in bringing to See also:hand every cub he can find.
Hare hunting, which must not be confounded with See also:Coursing (q.v.), is an excellent school both for men and for horses. It is Hareattended with the advantages of being cheaper than
any other kind, and of not needing so large an See also:area of country. Hare hunting requires considerable skill; See also:Beckford even goes so far as to say: " There is more of true hunting with harriers than with any other description of hounds. . . . In the first See also:place, a hare, when found, generally describes a circle in her course which naturally brings her upon her See also:foil, which is the greatest trial for hounds. Secondly, the scent of the hare is weaker than that of any other animal we hunt, and, unlike some, it is always the worse the nearer she is to her end." Hare hunting is essentially a quiet amusement; no hallooing at hounds nor See also:whip-cracking should be permitted; nor should the field make any See also:noise when a hare is found, for, being a timid animal, she might be headed into the hounds' mouths. See also:Capital exercise and much useful knowledge are to be derived by running with a pack of beagles. There are the same difficulties to be contended with as in hunting with the See also:ordinary See also:harrier, and a very few days' running will teach the youthful sportsman that he cannot run at the same pace over See also:sound ground and over a deep ploughed field, up See also: Notwithstanding the strong scent of the otter, he often escapes the hounds, and then a See also:cast has to be made. When he is viewed an attempt is made to spear him by any of the field who may be within distance; if their spears miss, the owners must See also:wade to recover them. Should the otter be transfixed by a spear, the See also:person who threw it goes into the water and raises the game over his head on the spear's point. If instead of being speared, he is caught by the hounds, he is soon worried to death by them, though frequently not before he has inflicted some severe wounds on one or more of the pack. When See also:railways were first started in England See also:dismal prophecies were made that the end of hunting would speedily be brought about. The result on the whole has been the See also:reverse. Packs. While in some counties the sport has suffered, towns- men who formerly would have been too far from a meet can now secure transport for themselves and their horses in all directions; and as a consequence, meets of certain packs are not advertised because of the number of strangers who would be induced to attend. The sport has never been so vigorously pursued as it was at the beginning of the loth century, rq packs of staghounds being kept in England and 4 in See also:Ireland, over 170 packs of foxhounds in England, ro in See also:Scotland and 23 in Ireland, with packs of harriers and beagles too numerous to be counted. The chase of the wild stag is carried on in the See also:west country by the Devon and Somerset hounds, which hunt three or four days a week from kennels at See also:Dunster; by the Quantock; and by a few other See also:local packs. In other parts of England staghound packs are devoted to the capture of the carted deer, a business which is more or less of a See also:parody on the genuine sport, but is popular for the See also:reason that whereas with foxhounds men may have a See also:blank day, they are practically sure of a gallop when a deer is taken out in a See also:cart to be enlarged before the hounds are laid on. Complaints are often raised about the See also:cruelty of what is called tame stag hunting, and it became a See also:special subject of See also:criticism that a pack should still be kept at the Royal kennels at See also:Ascot (it was abolished in rgor) and hunted by the Master of the Buckhounds; but it is the See also:constant endeavour of all masters and hunt servants to prevent the infliction of any injury on the deer. Their efforts in this direction are seldom unsuccessful; and it appears to be a fact that stags which are hunted season after season come to understand that they are in no See also:grave danger. Packs of fox-hounds vary, from large establishments in the " Shires," the meets of which are attended by hundreds of horsemen, some of whom keep large stables of huntersin constant work—for though a man at Melton, for instance, may see a great See also:deal of sport with See also:half-a-dozen well-seasoned animals, the number is not sufficient if he is anxious to be at all times well mounted—to small kennels in the See also:north of England, where the field follow on foot. The " Shires " is a recognized term, but is nevertheless somewhat vague. The three counties included in the expression are Leicester-shire, Rutlandshire and See also:Northamptonshire. Several packs which hunt within these limits are not supposed, however, to belong to the " Shires," whereas a district of the Belvoir country is in See also:Lincolnshire, and to hunt with the Belvoir is certainly understood to be hunting in the " Shires." The Shire hounds include the Belvoir, the Cottesmore, the Quorn and the Pytchleys; for besides the Pytchley proper, there is a pack distinguished as the Woodland. It is generally considered that the cream of the sport lies here, but with many of the packs which are generally described as " provincial" equally good hunting may be obtained. See also:Round about London a man who is See also:bent on the pursuit of fox or stag may gratify his See also:desire in many directions. The Essex and the Essex See also:Union, the See also:Surrey and the Surrey Union, the Old See also:Berkeley, the West See also:Kent, the Burstow, the See also:Hertfordshire, the Crawley and See also:Horsham, the Puckeridge, as regards foxhounds; the See also:Berkhampstead, the See also:Enfield Chase, Lord Rotkschild's, the Surrey, the West Surrey and the Warnham, as regards staghounds—as well as the Bucks and Berks, which was substituted for the Royal Buckhounds—are within easy reach of the capital. Questions are constantly raised as to whether horse and hounds have improved or deteriorated in modern times. It is probable that the introduction of scientific See also:agriculture has brought about an increase of pace. Hounds hunt Modern as well as ever they did, are probably hounds. faster on the ho. whole, and in the See also:principal hunts more thoroughbred horses are employed. For pace and endurance no hunter approaches the English thoroughbred; and for a bold man who " means going," a See also:steeplechase horse is often the best animal that could be obtained, for when he has become too slow to win races " between the flags," he can always gallop much faster, and usually lasts much longer, than animals who have not his See also:advantage of blood. The quondam "'chaser" is, how- ever, usually See also:apt to be somewhat impetuous at his fences. But it must by no means be supposed that every man who goes out hunting desires to gallop at a great pace and to jump formidable obstacles, or indeed any obstacles at all. A large proportion of men who follow hounds are quite content to do so passively through See also:gates and gaps, with a canter along the road whenever one is available. A few of the principal packs hunt five days a week, and sometimes even six, and for such an establishment not fewer than seventy-five couples of hounds are requisite. A pack which hunts four days a week will be well supplied with anything between fifty and sixty couples, and for two days a week from twenty-five to See also:thirty will suffice. The young hound begins cub-hunting when he is some eighteen months old, and as a See also:rule is found to improve until his third or See also:fourth season, though some last longer than this. Often, however, when a hound is five or six years old he begins to lack speed. Exceptional animals naturally do exceptional things, and a famous hound called Potentate is recorded by the 8th duke of See also:Beaufort to have done notable service in the hunting field for eleven seasons. Servants necessary for a pack include the huntsman, the duties of whose See also:office a master sometimes fulfils himself; two whippers-in, an See also:earth-stopper and often a kennel hunts- Hunt servants. man is also employed, though the 18th Lord See also:Willoughby Y de See also:Broke (d. 1902), a great authority, laid it down that " the man who hunts the hounds should always feed them." In all but the largest establishments the kennel huntsman is generally called the " feeder." It is his business to look after the pack which is not hunting, to walk them out, to prepare the food for the hunting pack so that it is ready when they return, and in the See also:spring to attend to the wants of the matrons and whelps. A kennel huntsman proper may be described as the man who does duty when the master hunts his own hounds, undertaking all the responsibilities of the huntsman except ; ctually hunting the pack. It may be said that the first duty of a huntsman is to obtain the confidence of his hounds, to understand them and to make himself understood; and the intelligence of hounds is remarkable. If, for example, it is the See also:habit of the huntsman to give a single See also:note on his horn when hounds are drawing a covert, and a See also:double note when a fox is found, the pack speedily understand the significance. The mysteries of scent are certainly no better comprehended now than they were more than a See also:hundred years ago when See also:Peter Beckford wrote his Thoughts on Hunting. The subject of scent is full of mysteries. The great authority already quoted, the 8th duke of Beaufort, noted as a very extraordinary but well-known fact, for example, " that in nine cases out of ten if a fox is coursed by a dog during a run all scent ceases after- wards, even when you get your hounds to the line of the fox beyond where the dog has been." This is one of many phenomena which have always remained inexplicable. The duties of the whipper-in are to a great extent explained by his title. Whilst the huntsman is drawing the cover the whipper-in is stationed at the spot from which he can best see what is going on, in See also:order to view the fox away; and it is his business to keep the hounds together when they have found and got away after the fox. There are many ways in which a whipper-in who is not intelligent and alert may spoil sport; indeed, the duke of Beaufort went so far as to declare that " in his experience, with very few exceptions, nine days out of ten that the whipper-in goes out hunting he does more harm than good." In woodland countries, however, a good whipper-in is really of almost as much import- ance as the huntsman himself; if he is not alert the hounds are likely to See also:divide, as when running a little wide they are apt to put up a fresh fox. The earth-stopper " stops out " and " puts to "—the first expression signifying blocking. during the See also:night, earths and drains to which foxes resort, the second perform- See also:ing the same duties in the See also:morning so as to prevent the fox from getting to ground when he has been found. In the interests of humanity care should be taken that the earth-stopper always has with him a small terrier, as it is often necessary to "stop-out" permanently; and unless a dog is run through the drain some unfortunate creature in it, a fox, See also:cat or See also:rabbit, may be imprisoned and starved to death. This business is frequently performed by a gamekeeper, a sum being paid him for any See also:litter of cubs or fox found on his See also:beat. With regard to the expenses of hunting, it is calculated that a master of hounds should be prepared to spend at the See also:rate of £500 a year for every day in the week that his hounds are supposed to hunt. Taking one thing with another, cost of huntlag. this is probably, rather under than over the See also:mark, and the cost of hunting three days a week, if the thing be really properly done, will Most likely be nearer £2000 than £1500. The expenses to the individual naturally vary so much that no figures can be given. As See also:long ago as 1826 twenty-seven hunters and hacks were sold for 7500 guineas, an See also:average of over £290; and when Lord See also:Stamford ceased to hunt the Quorn in 1853, seventy-three of his horses fetched at See also:auction an average of close on £200. Early in the 19th century, when on the whole horses were much cheaper than they are at present, 700 and 800 guineas are prices recorded as having been occasionally paid for hunters of special repute. A man may see some sport on an animal that cost him £40; others may consider it necessary to keep an expensive establishment at Melton See also:Mowbray or elsewhere in the Shires, with a dozen or more Soo-See also:guinea hunters, some covert-hacks, and a corresponding See also:staff of servants. Few See also:people realize what enormous sums of money are annually distributed in connexion with hunting. Horses must be fed; the See also:wages of grooms and helpers be paid; See also:saddlery, clothing, shoeing, &c., are items; farmers, innkeepers, railway companies, See also:fly-men and innumerable others benefit more or less directly. (A. E. T. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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