butchers that lead him, his hounds would go and take him and hold him until his master has come, and should help him to bring him again to the town. They cost little to keep as they eat the foul things in the butcher's row. Also they keep their master's house, they be good _for bull baiting_ and for hunting wild boar, whether it be with greyhounds at the tryst or with running hounds at bay within the covert. For when a wild boar is within a strong hatte of wood (thicket), perhaps all day the running hounds will not make him come out. And when men let such mastiffs run at the boar they take him in the thick spires (wood) so that any man can slay him, or they make him come out of his strength, so that he shall not remain long at bay. [164] G. de F. has "estourdiz," which the "Master of Game" translates as "stordy" or sturdy, but the modern sense would be hairbrained, giddy, not sturdy. [165] Means _chase_ a horse. G. de F. says: "Se on court un cheval, ils le prennent voulentiers," p. 100. CHAPTER XVII OF SPANIELS AND OF THEIR NATURE Another kind of hound there is that be called hounds for the hawk and spaniels, for their kind cometh from Spain, notwithstanding that there are many in other countries. And such hounds have many good customs and evil. Also a fair hound for the hawk should have a great head, a great body and be of fair hue, white or tawny, for they be the fairest, and of such hue they be commonly best. A good spaniel should not be too rough, but his tail should be rough. The good qualities that such hounds have are these: they love well their masters and follow them without losing, although they be in a great crowd of men, and commonly they go before their master, running and wagging their tail, and raise or start fowl and wild beasts. But their right craft is of the partridge and of the quail. It is a good thing to a man that hath a noble goshawk or a tiercel or a sparrow hawk for partridge, to have such hounds. And also when they be taught to be couchers,[166] they be good to take partridges and quail with a net. And also they be good when they are taught to swim and to be good for the river, and for fowls when they have dived, but on the other hand they have many bad qualities like the country that they come from. For a country draweth to two natures of men, of beasts, and of fowls, and as men call greyhounds _of Scotland_ and of Britain,[167] so the alauntes and the hounds for the hawk come out of Spain, and they take after the nature of the generation of which they come. Hounds for the hawk are fighters and great barkers if you lead them a hunting among running hounds, whatever beasts they hunt to they will make them lose the line, for they will go before now hither now thither, as much when they are at fault as when they go right, and lead the hounds about and make them overshoot and fail. Also if you lead greyhounds with you, and there be a hound for the hawk, that is to say a spaniel, if he see