[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 now staring 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 and dogging 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, "La Venerie" (ap. E. Talbot, "Oeuvres completes de Xenophon," 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."
V
The tracks of hares are long in winter owing to the length of night, and short for the opposite reason during summer. In winter, however, their scent does not lie in early morning, when the rime is on the ground, or earth is frozen.[1] The fact is, hoar frost by its own inherent force absorbs its heat, whilst black frost freezes it.[2]
[1] Or, "when there is hoar frost or black frost" (lit. "ice").
[2] Or, "the ice congeals them," "encases as it were in itself the heat," i.e. the warm scent; aliter, "causes the tracks to freeze at the top."
The hounds, moreover, with their noses nipped by the cold,[3] cannot under these conditions[4] use their sense of smell, until the sun or the mere advance of day dissolves the scent. Then the noses of the hounds recover, and the scent of the trail begins to exhale itself perceptibly.[5]
[3] Reading {malkiosai}, Cobet, "N. Lect." 131. "Mnem." 3, 306; Rutherford, "N. Phry." p. 135. = "nipped, or numb with cold." For vulg. {malakiosai} = "whose noses are tender," see Lenz ad loc.
[4] Lit. "when the tracks are in this case."
[5] As it evaporates. Aliter, "is perceptible to smell as it is wafted by the breeze to greet them."
Heavy dews also will obliterate scent by its depressing effect;[6] and
rains occurring after long intervals, while bringing out odours from the earth,[7] will render the soil bad for scent until it dries again. Southerly winds will not improve scent--being moisture-laden they disperse it; whereas northerly winds, provided the scent has not been previously destroyed, tend to fix and preserve it. Rains will drown and wash it away, and so will drizzle; while the moon by her heat[8]-- especially a full moon--will dull its edge; in fact the trail is rarest--most irregular[9]--at such times, for the hares in their joy at the light with frolic and gambol[10] literally throw themselves high into the air and set long intervals between one footfall and another. Or again, the trail will become confused and misleading when crossed by that of foxes.[11]
[6] Cf. Plut. "Q. Nat." 917 F, ap. Schneid.
[7] Cf. Theophr. "C. Pl." xix. 5, 6; xx. 4.
[8] Reading {to thermo}. Aristot. "Gen. An." iv. 10. Zeune cf. Plut. "Symp." iii. 10, 657. Macrob. "Sat." vii. 16; Athen. 276 E. Al. {to thermon}. See Lenz ad loc., "the moon, especially a full moon, dulls the heat (or odour) of the tracks."
[9] Cf. Poll. v. 67; ib. 66.
[10] "Playing with one another, in the rivalry of sport."
[11] Lit. "when foxes have gone through before."
Spring with its tempered mildness is the season to render the scent clear, except where possibly the soil, bursting with flowers, may mislead the pack, by mingling the perfume of flowers with the true scent.[12] In summer scent is thin and indistinct; the earth being baked through and through absorbs the thinner warmth inherent in the trail, while the dogs themselves are less keen scented at that season through the general relaxation of their bodies.[13] In autumn scent lies clean, all the products of the soil by that time, if cultivable, being already garnered, or, if wild, withered away with age, so that the odours of various fruits are no longer a disturbing cause through blowing on to the line.[14] In winter, summer, and autumn, moreover, as opposed to spring, the trail of a hare lies for the most part in straight lines, but in the earlier season it is highly complicated, for the little creatures are perpetually coupling and particularly at this season, so that of necessity as they roam together for the purpose they make the line intricate as described.
[12] i.e. "with the scent into a composite and confusing whole."
[13] Or, "owing to the relaxed condition of their frames."
[14] Lit. "The fruity odours do not, as commingling currents, injure the trail."
The scent of the line leading to the hare's form lies longer than that of a hare on the run, and for this reason: in proceeding to her form the hare keeps stopping,[15] the other is in rapid motion; consequently, the ground in one case is thickly saturated all along with scent, in the other sparsely and superficially. So, too, scent lies better in woody than on barren ground, since, whilst running to and fro or sitting up, the creature comes in contact with a variety of objects. Everything that earth produces or bears upon her bosom will serve as puss's resting-place. These are her screen, her couch, her canopy;[16] apart, it may be, or close at hand, or at some middle point, among them she lies ensconced. At times, with an effort taxing all her strength, she will spring across to where some jutting point or clinging undergrowth on sea or freshet may attract her.
[15] "The form tracks are made by the hare leisurely proceeding and stopping at times; those on the run quickly."
[16] Lit. "Anything and everything will serve to couch under, or above, within, beside, now at some distance off, and now hard by, and now midway between."
The couching hare[17] constructs her form for the most part in sheltered spots during cold weather and in shady thickets during the hot season, but in spring and autumn on ground exposed to the sun. Not so the running[18] animal, for the simple reason that she is scared out of her wits by the hounds.[19]
[17] "The form-frequenting hare."
[18] "Her roving congener," i.e. the hunted hare that squats. The distinction drawn is between the form chosen by the hare for her own comfort, and her squatting-place to escape the hounds when hunted.
[19] i.e. "the dogs have turned her head and made her as mad as a March hare."
In reclining the hare draws up the thighs under the flanks,[20] putting its fore-legs together, as a rule, and stretching them out, resting its chin on the tips of its feet. It spreads its ears out over the shoulder-blades, and so shelters the tender parts of its body; its hair serves as a protection,[21] being thick and of a downy texture. When awake it keeps on blinking its eyelids,[22] but when asleep the eyelids remain wide open and motionless, and the eyes rigidly fixed; during sleep it moves its nostrils frequently, if awake less often.
[20] Pollux, v. 72.
[21] Or, "as a waterproof."
[22] So Pollux, ib.
When the earth is bursting with new verdure,[23] fields and farm-lands rather than mountains are their habitat.[24] When tracked by the huntsman their habit is everywhere to await approach, except only in case of some excessive scare during the night, in which case they will be on the move.
[23] "When the ground teems with vegetation."
[24] Or, "they frequent cultivated lands," etc.
The fecundity of the hare is extraordinary. The female, having produced one litter, is on the point of producing a second when she is already impregnated for a third.[25]
[25] Re hyper-foetation cf. Pollux, v. 73, ap. Schneid.; Herod. iii. 108; Aristot. "H. A." iv. 5; Erastosthenes, "Catasterism," 34; Aelian, "V. H." ii. 12; Plin. "N. H." vii. 55.
The scent of the leveret lies stronger[26] than that of the grown animal. While the limbs are still soft and supple they trail full length on the ground. Every true sportsman, however, will leave these quite young creatures to roam freely.[27] "They are for the goddess." Full-grown yearlings will run their first chase very swiftly,[28] but they cannot keep up the pace; in spite of agility they lack strength.
[26] Cf. Pollux, v. 74.
[27] {aphiasi}, cf. Arrian, xxii. 1, "let them go free"; Aesch. "P. V." 666; Plat. "Prot." 320 A.
[28] Or, "will make the running over the first ring."
To find the trail you must work the dogs downwards through the cultivated lands, beginning at the top. Any hares that do not come into the tilled districts must be sought in the meadows and the glades; near rivulets, among the stones, or in woody ground. If the quarry makes off,[29] there should be no shouting, that the hounds may not grow too eager and fail to discover the line. When found by the hounds, and the chase has begun, the hare will at times cross streams, bend and double and creep for shelter into clefts and crannied lurking-places;[30] since they have not only the hounds to dread, but eagles also; and, so long as they are yearlings, are apt to be carried off in the clutches of these birds, in the act of crossing some slope or bare hillside. When they are bigger they have the hounds after them to hunt them down and make away with them. The fleetest-footed would appear to be those of the low marsh lands. The vagabond kind[31] addicted to every sort of ground are difficult to hunt, for they know the short cuts, running chiefly up steeps or across flats, over inequalities unequally, and downhill scarcely at all.
[29] Or, "shifts her ground."
[30] Or, "in their terror not of dogs only, but of eagles, since up to a year old they are liable to be seized by these birds of prey while crossing some bottom or bare ground, while if bigger . . ."
[31] {oi . . . planetai}, see Ael. op. cit. xiii. 14.
Whilst being hunted they are most visible in crossing ground that has been turned up by the plough, if, that is, they have any trace of red about them, or through stubble, owing to reflection. So, too, they are visible enough on beaten paths or roads, presuming these are fairly level, since the bright hue of their coats lights up by contrast. On the other hand, they are not noticeable when they seek the cover of rocks, hills, screes, or scrub, owing to similarity of colour. Getting a fair start of the hounds, they will stop short, sit up and rise themselves up on their haunches,[32] and listen for any bark or other clamour of the hounds hard by; and when the sound reaches them, off and away they go. At times, too, without hearing, merely fancying or persuading themselves that they hear the hounds, they will fall to skipping backwards and forwards along the same trail,[33] interchanging leaps, and interlacing lines of scent,[34] and so make off and away.
[32] Cf. the German "Mannerchen machen," "play the mannikin." Shaks. "V. and A." 697 foll.
[33] Passage imitated by Arrian, xvi. 1.
[34] Lit. "imprinting track upon track," but it is better perhaps to avoid the language of woodcraft at this point.
These animals will give the longest run when found upon the open, there being nothing there to screen the view; the shortest run when started out of thickets, where the very darkness is an obstacle.
