70 TJie Hare. [Sess. 



ing, and wondered if they would discover the manoeuvre, or 

 follow up to where the hare had doubled. I was not long kept 

 in suspense, for, on the hounds getting through the hedge, they 

 took up the double scent, giving tongue as if vying with each 

 other which would be the loudest. A number of ladies and 

 gentlemen came galloping up, evidently enjoying the sport. In 

 an instant the music of the hounds had ceased, horses were sud- 

 denly pulled up, and disorder and disappointment ensued, I 

 am almost ashamed to confess that I betrayed the secret of poor 

 " puss," which conscience told me should have been kept sacred. 

 Again the hounds were " full cry " on the trail, and, taking ad- 

 vantage of some elevated ground, I w-atched the remainder of 

 the hunt. Several checks were made, and the hounds seemed 

 baffled ; but, unfortunately for the hare, some of the " field " or 

 an onlooker would yell out a "tally-ho," and the chase con- 

 tinued. The instinct and cunning displayed by " puss " were 

 therefore of no avail, and now, struggling up the furrow of a 

 ploughed field, the hounds " from scent to view " speedily ter- 

 minate the chase, and tear their victim to pieces, making a 

 savoury meal of her remains as the reward of their persistent 

 pursuit. 



The hare almost invariably doubles back on her track for 

 fifty or a hundred yards, then makes a spring of six or eight 

 feet down wind, and goes a short distance before settling for the 

 day in an open field. So strongly are hares endowed with this 

 instinct that, as I have observed after a snow shower in April, 

 it is practised by leverets a few weeks old. 



One w^ord on the cruelty of greyhound coursing in the months 

 of February and March, The trusty shepherd is ever jealously 

 on the watch to prevent any strange dog from crossing the field 

 among his flock during the lambing season, as causing sheep to 

 run at this time is known to have a prejudicial effect. Coursing 

 hares, therefore, in similar circumstances is cruel in the extreme. 

 Should any Bill be introduced into Parliament providing close- 

 time for hares, care should be taken to protect them from being 

 coursed by greyhounds during the months referred to, so that 

 there would thus be an end put to a species of cruelty which 

 must be deprecated by all humane and thoughtful persons. 



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