THE BEAGLE HOUND. 277 



residing in Virginia that, in order to satisfy some friends of 

 the ability of his Beagles to kill a red fox, he took his pack 

 of Hounds under fifteen inches in height with an old- 

 Foxhound to start them on the trail, and soon started a fox. 

 Being stationed himself on a hill, he was able to watch the 

 entire hunt, and, after a run of several hours, the Beagles 

 cai^ght and killed the fox, while the old Foxhound was not 

 in at the death. I cite this instance because many claim 

 that the Beagle would be entirely useless in a fox-hunt. 



The Beagle is also used for hunting the large white hare 

 (Lepus Virginianus) which abounds in some parts of this 

 country. A friend of the writer, residing in Rhode Island, 

 who has one of the largest and best packs of Beagles in the 

 country, hunted these hares with his pack last winter, but 

 says that while the sport is exciting, it is not so much so as 

 hunting the ordinary cotton-tail (Lepus Americanus). 

 This is for the reason that the large hare circles much 

 farther off than the latter, running often miles before re- 

 turning, and consequently taking the Hounds a greater part 

 of the time out of the hearing and sight of the hunters. 



Anyone residing in any of our large cities can, if he have 

 a sufficient amount of the instincts of the backwoodsman 

 to make him worthy the name of a sportsman, find spots 

 by prospecting, as it were, where he can, almost any day, 

 take his Beagles and give them a chance to do some trail- 

 ing. If such persons will do as the writer does, and not 

 shoot these hares, or allow their Hounds to kill them, but 

 look upon them in the light of prized jewels, they can have 

 many an hour's sport, at dusk or after business hours, with 

 their Beagles. The writer recently had marked down a 

 small patch of woods, within fifty minutes walk of his 

 home, which had a solitary hare in it nearly the entire 

 season, and which has afforded many an hours sport for 

 him and his Beagles. A few such hares, carefully pro- 

 tected, may afford sport for a whole season. 



While the customary way of hunting the hare with Bea- 

 gles is for the sportsman to stand at runways or likely 

 places where the hare will come when brought around by 



