HUNTING WITH HOUNDS. 153 



firmly established itself in the field of Amer- 

 ican sport. This is the greyhound, whether 

 the smooth-haired, or the rough-coated Scotch 

 deer-hound. For half a century the army 

 officers posted in the far West have occasion- 

 ally had greyhounds with them, using the dogs 

 to course jack-rabbit, coyote, and sometimes 

 deer, antelope, and gray wolf. Many of them 

 were devoted to this sport, General Custer, 

 for instance. I have myself hunted with many 

 of the descendants of Custer's hounds. In 

 the early, 70*3 the ranchmen of the great plains 

 themselves began to keep greyhounds for 

 coursing (as indeed they had already been 

 used for a considerable time in California, 

 after the Pacific coast jack-rabbit), and the 

 sport speedily assumed large proportions and 

 a permanent form. Nowadays the ranchmen 

 of the cattle country not only use their grey- 

 hounds after the jack-rabbit, but also after 

 every other kind of game animal to be found 

 there, the antelope and coyote being especial 

 favorites. Many ranchmen soon grew to own 

 fine packs, coursing being the sport of all 

 sports for the plains. In Texas the wild tur- 

 key was frequently an object of the chase, and 

 wherever the locality enabled deer to be fol- 

 lowed in the open, as for instance in the In- 

 dian territory, and in many places in the 

 neighborhood of the large plains rivers, the 

 whitetail was a favorite quarry, the hunters 

 striving to surprise it in the early morning 

 when feeding on the prairie. 



I have myself generally coursed with scratch 



