210 Modern Dogs. 



enough and dead game, try their hardest to kill, 

 but much as I love them I am compelled to say that 

 they are not so good for rabbiting as beagles or 

 small fox terriers, chiefly on account of their size 

 and colour. 



" I have seen it stated that an Irish terrier could 

 catch a hare ; so it perhaps might if the hare had a 

 trap to a leg, or was sick and poorly, but as 

 there are some hares that a greyhound cannot 

 kill on their own ground, it is not likely an 

 Irish terrier could run down even an ordinary hare. 

 Nor is it part of his duty to do so. Here is an 

 account of a trial or two between an Irish terrier 

 and a fox terrier noted for its skill in rabbit 

 coursing : 



" We slipped them in a stubble field. Just at the 

 end the hare stopped to pick her run, and was out 

 of sight when the terrier got through. The next slip 

 was on a fallow, the hare having about ten yards 

 start, at the end of the field there was a con- 

 siderable slope up-hill. After ' puss ' had got about 

 150 yards ahead, we saw her look round and wait 

 until the terriers got to within a yard or so, and 

 then jump on one side and quietly jog away out of 

 sight. 



" I do not know a better companion for the man 

 or woman who only keeps one dog than an Irish 



