Also the hounds scent worse from May until St. John's time than in any other time of all the year, for as I shall say the burnt heath and the burning of fields taketh away the scent from the hounds of the beasts that they hunt. Also in that time the herbs be best and flowers in their smelling, each one in their kind, and when the hounds hope to scent the beast that they hunt, the sweet-smelling of the herbs takes the scent of the beast from them. [145] Danger of his being lost to the hounds. [146] Challenge--_i.e._ the noise the hounds make on finding the scent of an animal. [147] Get off the line. [148] Separated him from the other deer. [149] From here to the middle of the 13th line on the next page the text is copied from the Shirley MS., the scribe who wrote the Vespasian B. XII. MS. having made a mistake in his transcript, copying on folio 65 the folio 64, which therefore appears twice over, to the exclusion of the matter here copied from the Shirley MS. [150] This sentence is difficult to understand without consulting G. de F. (p. 110), who says: "as the hound does not challenge when the stag is with change, one does not know where he is going unless one sees him, and one cannot always see him." [151] G. de F.: "cerfs baus restifz" is the name which he gives these hounds. [152] G. de F. adds: "and remain quite quiet." [153] "Le chien baud," G. de F., p. 111. See Appendix: Running Hounds. [154] The text of the MS. differs from G. de F., who says if one hunts stags "ou autres bestes en traillant sans limier" (drawing from them without having first harboured them with a lymer), and does not say "without greyhounds"; p. 111. [155] G. de F. has here: "Ils crient trop en quérant leur beste quelle que soit," p. 111. [156] "The hounds cannot challenge too loudly when they are on the line." G. de F.: "Chien ne peut trop crier," p. 112. [157] From Mid. Eng. _harien_, _harren_, to harry or worry game. See Appendix: Harrier. CHAPTER XV OF GREYHOUNDS AND OF THEIR NATURE