The Sporting Dictionary and Rural Repository, Volume 2 (of 2): Of General Information upon Every Subject Appertaining to the Sports of the FieldTaplin, William
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The Sporting Dictionary and Rural Repository, Volume 2 (of 2): Of General Information upon Every Subject Appertaining to the Sports of the Field
Taplin, William
Hunting -- Dictionaries; Sports -- Dictionaries
TERMS IN SPORTING—are, in general, the same through every part of the
kingdom; except some few provincial deviations in distant districts,
remote from the centrical parts near the Metropolis. When going out with
hounds in the morning, and reaching the place of meeting, we _throw_ off
(or _cast_ off) the hounds; we _rouse_ a deer, _unkennel_ a fox, or
_start_ a hare. When a hound challenges who can be relied upon, he has
taken _scent_ of a deer, _drag_ of a fox, or _trail_ of a hare. If a
hound _quests_ (that is, gives tongue) without a cause, he is said to
_babble_. After finding, if the _scent_ lies well, and the hounds run
together, the scent is said to be _breast-high_. When, during the chase,
the hounds (in consequence of bad, dry, or stormy weather) are often at
fault, and the huntsman is under the necessity of adverting to whatever
advantages and assistance he can obtain, he has, perhaps, no other
alternative, than to avail himself of the _track_ of whatever GAME he
has in pursuit; in either of which chases, he _slots_ a deer, he _foots_
a fox, or he _pricks_ a hare.
It was formerly the custom to say a _kennel_ of hounds; of beagles a
_pack_: it is now more usual to call them indiscriminately a kennel of
hounds, when in the kennel; but all are equally called a pack in the
field. Of greyhounds, pointers, and spaniels, when speaking of numbers,
it is right to say a _brace_, (for two;) a _leash_ of greyhounds, a
_brace_ and _half_ of pointers and spaniels, (for three;) and two brace
of either, for four. When a deer, during the chase, gets into the water,
he is then said _to take soil_: when so hard run, and so much distrest,
that he turns round, and faces the hounds, he is then said to _stand at
bay_. The head of the fox, when killed, is called the _front_, (in some
parts, the _scalp_;) his feet, _pads_; and his tail, the _brush_; which
is the distinguishing trait of honour for the day, that every fearless
foxhunter rides for. When the game leaves covert, it is said to have
_gone away_: when, in the heighth of the chase, the game makes a short
turn to the right or left, and the hounds come to a fault, by having
over-run the scent, the game is then said to have _headed_: if that is
returned in a parallel line with the original chase, it is called a
_double_; and if it is brought again directly into the old _track_, it
is called running _the soil_.
Hounds at the commencement of a season, after so long a confinement and
restraint, are inclined to chase every thing they see, or scent from a
_pig_ to a _polecat_, in all which cases they are said to _run riot_.
Hounds _draw_ for a fox; they _try_ for a hare. When greyhounds are
removed from one country to another, they travel with _collars_; hounds
in _couples_. In shooting terms, we say, a _brace_ of hares, a _leash_
of pheasants, and _two brace_ of partridges; a _brace_ of snipes, a
_couple and half_ of woodcocks, and _two couple_ of rabbits.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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