The Sportsman | Page 9

the eyes
pronounced;[3] ears long[4] and thin, without hair on the under side;
neck long and flexible, freely moving on its pivot;[5] chest broad and
fairly fleshy; shoulder-blades detached a little from the shoulders;[6]
the shin-bones of the fore-legs should be small, straight, round, stout
and strong; the elbows straight; ribs[7] not deep all along, but sloped
away obliquely; the loins muscular, in size a mean between long and
short, neither too flexible nor too stiff;[8] flanks, a mean between large
and small; the hips (or "couples") rounded, fleshy behind, not tied
together above, but firmly knitted on the inside;[9] the lower or under
part of the belly[10] slack, and the belly itself the same, that is, hollow
and sunken; tail long, straight, and pointed;[11] thighs (i.e. hams) stout
and compact; shanks (i.e. lower thighs) long, round, and solid;
hind-legs much longer than the fore-legs, and relatively lean; feet round
and cat- like.[12]
[1] Pollux, v. 7; Arrian, "Cyn." iv.
[2] {meteora}, prominent. ?See Sturz, s.v.
[3] {tas diakriseis batheias}, lit. "with a deep frontal sinus."
[4] Reading {makra}, or if {mikra}, "small."
[5] Al. "well rounded."
[6] "Shoulder blades standing out a little from the shoulders"; i.e.
"free."
[7] i.e. "not wholly given up to depth, but well curved"; depth is not
everything unless the ribs be also curved. Schneid. cf. Ov. "Met." iii.
216, "et substricta gerens Sicyonius ilia Ladon," where the poet is
perhaps describing a greyhound, "chyned like a bream." See
Stonehenge, pp. 21, 22. Xenophon's "Castorians" were more like the
Welsh harrier in build, I presume.
[8] Or, "neither soft and spongy nor unyielding." See Stoneh., p. 23.
[9] "Drawn up underneath it," lit. "tucked up."
[10] Al. "flank," "flanks themselves."
[11] Or, as we should say, "stern." See Pollux, v. 59; Arrian, v. 9.
[12] See Stonehenge, p. 24 foll.
Hounds possessed of these points will be strong in build, and at the
same time light and active; they will have symmetry at once and pace;

a bright, beaming expression; and good mouths.
In following up scent,[13] see how they show their mettle by rapidly
quitting beaten paths, keeping their heads sloping to the ground,
smiling, as it were to greet the trail; see how they let their ears drop,
how they keep moving their eyes to and fro quickly, flourishing their
sterns.[14] Forwards they should go with many a circle towards the
hare's form,[15] steadily guided by the line, all together. When they are
close to the hare itself, they will make the fact plain to the huntsman by
the quickened pace at which they run, as if they would let him know by
their fury, by the motion of head and eyes, by rapid changes of gait and
gesture,[16] now casting a glance back and now fixing their gaze
steadily forward to the creature's hiding-place,[17] by twistings and
turnings of the body, flinging themselves backwards, forwards, and
sideways, and lastly, by the genuine exaltation of spirits, visible enough
now, and the ecstasy of their pleasure, that they are close upon the
quarry.
[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