Gnyhonnd Coursing- 



291 



dog, and calls out in a loud voice the colour of 

 the dog to which he has given the award. 

 There is a flag-steward appointed, whose duty 

 it is to carry two flags, a red and a white (the 

 first-named dog on the card always running 

 under the red flag), and on hearing the colour 

 of the dog called out by the judge, he hoists 

 a red or white flag, as the case may be, so that 

 the spectators, although out of hearing of the 

 judge, may know which one he has decided in 

 favour of 



We have supposed No. i beats No. 2, con- 

 sequendy the red is hoisted for No. i; but No. 

 4 has beaten No. 3, and the white is for No. 

 4; so is it for No. 6, but No. 7 being on the 

 left hand column of the card, the red is hoisted 

 for it. 



As a sport, we know of few equal to Cours- 

 ing. It can be indulged in by the young and 

 old, the rich and the poor, and from the great 

 amount of exercise (generally walking) that its 

 votaries require to take in the open air, it is 

 most conducive to health ; and if Banting's 

 followers will only try Coursing for a season, 

 they will find themselves attheend of it relieved 

 of their superfluous fat, and sound in wind and 

 limb. It also affords persons in rural districts 

 an opportunity of enjoying a day's amusement 

 now and then that they would not otherwise 

 enjoy, and it brings the high and low into plea- 

 sant contact, there being in Coursing a free- 

 masonry existing greater almost than in any 

 other sport. 



To a proprietor Avho wishes to perpetuate 

 a breed of strong hares, let him course his 

 hares instead of shooting them, as by shoot- 

 ing, the weak and the strong are destroyed 

 indiscriminately. By Coursing, the weak and 

 defomied are killed, and the stout and healthy 

 are left to breed from. 



We recommend any person wishing to 

 see the enjoyment that persons in an isola- 

 ted part of the country take in a day or 

 two's Coursing, to pay a visit to Stranraer. 

 Since Lord Stair went to that part of the 

 country, he has, on his own grounds, intro- 

 duced and encouraged Coursing meetings 

 with the happiest results, both in his own dis- 

 trict and in the neighbourhood of Wigtown ; 

 and he has been backed by most of the gentle- 



men of the county, particularly by Mr Vans 

 Agnew of Barnbarroch. His Lordship allows 

 all his tenants to keep greyhounds, and, if 

 possible, of the best breed. When they want 

 a course or trial, they apply to the keeper, 

 and they obtain it. They have often small 

 meetings; but at the annual one, which is 

 held in January, a club-stake is run for, to 

 which his Lordship adds a sum of money; and 

 there you find his Lordship taking an interest 

 in the drawing of the dogs, presiding at the 

 dinner table after the draw, and on the field 

 doing everything in his power to place die 

 spectators in the most favourable position for 

 obtaining a -s-iew of the sport, and directing 

 the beaters. In that district the tenants had 

 almost no sport of any kind ; and it was with 

 a view to let them have a day or two that his 

 Lordship got up the meeting, and it has had 

 as excellent a result as any courser couH 

 desire — the tenants taking a pride in shewing 

 a good head of game, without any of the 

 grumbling that might have taken place had 

 he not been transformed into a courser by 

 " the laird." 



As previously mentioned. Coursing has very 

 much increased since the introduction of rail- 

 ways ; and as an instance of this may be 

 noticed the now great "Waterloo Meeting, held 

 each year, in February, at Altcar, near Liver- 

 pool, with an entrance-money of ^^25 each 

 dog, 64 contending for the stake, the winner 

 receiving ;^5oo, the second ^200; every 

 dog except 16 (which have not won a course), 

 receiving a share according to their merits. 

 This meeting had its commencement in 1836 

 as an 8-dog stake — from that to a 16 — from 

 a 16 to a 32 — and in 1856 to a 64, in which 

 year it was won by a Scotch dog, King Lear, 

 belonging to Mr W. Wilson, Dumfries. Since 

 then it has, on two other occasions, come to 

 Scotland. In 1859, Mr J. Jardine ran first 

 and second with Clive and Selby, and in 

 1 86 1, Mr Hyslop won it with Mr Campbell's 

 Canaradzo. It is not a little singular that 

 Mr A. Graham, who has competed for it every 

 year since its commencement, has never won 

 it, although long long ago he had some of 

 the best rough greyhounds going, such 

 as " Gilbertfield," " Cacciatore," "Rough," 



