128 The Fox Terrier. 



snap dog, and utilising him for the chasing of rabbits in an 

 enclosure. Nature never intended the fox terrier for a rabbit 

 courser. Had she done so his form would have been much 

 more slim than it actually is, and his lines built upon those 

 of a greyhound in miniature rather than upon those of a 

 sturdy terrier. Still, this somewhat plebeian diversion at one 

 time appeared to have taken considerable hold of a certain 

 section of the community, the members of which, on 

 Saturday afternoons especially, and upon other holidays, 

 too, hied to some field or other, and enjoyed themselves by 

 letting a rabbit out of a hamper, and, after allowing bunny 

 a certain start, unslipped a couple of terriers, which ran 

 after and in ninety-nine times out of a hundred killed it. 

 Had the rabbits a fair chance of regaining their liberty, as 

 is the case with the pigeon when liberated from a trap, or 

 even with the hare when coursed at the new-fangled 

 inclosed meetings (which by the way have never flourished 

 and will never do so), this fox terrier coursing would be 

 legitimate sport. As the rabbits have not an ordinary 

 chance of escape, and, preparatory to their being set down 

 in front of the terrier, have been confined, since their 

 capture, in a hamper or some similar receptacle, I must 

 look upon the thing with disfavour, and altogether fail to 

 acknowledge it as in any way likely to improve the fox terrier 

 as he is, and as all his admirers would wish him to remain. 

 Although, under these circumstances, the rabbits have 

 little opportunity to regain their liberty, their chances of so 

 doing are greater than that which was afforded by the 

 individual who possessed a terrier and a wild rabbit, which 

 he coursed in his cellar. The rabbit was given a start of 

 once around the floor, and " Jack," failing to recognise that 

 spirit of fair play his owner possessed, instead of himself 



