164 ON THE WING. 



Having placed your dog on the trail, your next 

 thing is to get into position : that is, to take your 

 stand at a point where the hare when started by 

 the dog will run past you. To get a good or sure 

 position requires judgment, and in selecting one, 

 much depends upon the lay of the land. If it be low 

 and swampy and surrounded by heavy timber, the 

 hare will be very likely to run in the edge of the tim- 

 ber ; particularly so if, on examination there, you find 

 tracks made the night before. In all such places hares 

 and rabbits usually have their regular runways, or paths, 

 to which they take themselves whenever started ; and 

 it is by examining these that the sportsman can best tell 

 where to place himself. He will endeavor to get a 

 position covering as many runways as possible. Dogs 

 on taking a trail usually work it quietly until they 

 come up with the hare or rabbit. Some, however, give 

 occasional yelps ; but these are never mistaken for the 

 general hullabaloo they make when they start their 

 game. They then give tongue in quite a regular way, 

 and a sportsman, knowing well the ground, and able 

 to trace by his ear the course of the dog, can judge 

 with much certainty the run and place of turning up 

 of the game. 



When the hare or rabbit has been started, and the 

 sportsman has taken his position, he should stand 

 perfectly still, with his eyes and ears wide open, 

 whether he hears the dog or not ; for a hare oftentimes 

 will take a dog off on a long chase, and then bring 

 him back to the place, or near the place, he started 

 from. After a hare has been started, he is likely to 



