i8o ROYAL ROCK BEAGLE HUNT. 



eat. Here the ordinar}' beagler's knowledge ends ; but it is desirable that 



he should know more than this, and it may not be out of place here to 



endeavour to give some account of the animal, culled from the best and 



most trusted authorities. 



These authorities may be narrowed down to two— Buffon and Somer- 



vile — as nearly everything that is said about the hare by modern authorities 



may be found, almost word for word, in Barr's translation of Buffon's 



Natural History, published ,1772; while Beckford, the great authority, 



quotes Somervile's poem, "The Chase," published 17 So, as the only valuable 



description of hares and hare-hunting, previous to his own efforts, published 



1781. 



Strange ! that the British Muse should leave so long 

 The Chase, the sport of Britain's kings, unsung, 

 Distinguish'd land ! by heaven indulged to breed 

 The stout sagacious hound, and gen'rous steed." 



Nixon on Somen' He. 



Whence Buffon gained his knowledge is not stated, but it was probably in 

 France, where hare-hunting, of a sort, was carried on at an early date. 

 Prints of French hare-hunting show all the sportsmen armed with guns, and 

 one picture reveals a man in the act of shooting the hare in front of the pack 

 of hounds, and over the heads of the (c\v hounds which are just running in 

 to kill. 



No apology need be made for quoting copiously from Somervile's poem, 

 as his descriptions are so good and so accurate, and many of his lines are so 

 familiar to the beagler, though he is probably unaware of their source, attri- 

 buting them no doubt to Shakespeare, as usual. 



The hare (lepiis ti/iiidus) is a small active animal about seven to nine 

 pounds in weight. Its generic characteristics are— Small head, long ears, its 

 hearing being very acute; the power of vision is not very good, as the eyes 

 are so placed that they cannot see directly in front, and so the hare often 

 runs straight into danger ; the body is long, and the hind legs much longer 

 and stronger than the fore legs, which enables them to run well up hill ; the 

 colour of the fur is light brown on the back and sides, with here and there 

 black patches, and white on the belly. In northern countries the fur of the 

 hare (lepus arcturus) changes to white in winter. In 1877, a white hare was 

 noticed on the Quinta estate, near Chirk ; it was several times seen feeding 

 six or seven miles away from its home ; orders were given that it was not to 

 be shot or molested. 



The tail (or scut) of the hare is short, black above and white beneath ; 

 in a jack hare the white predominates. The fore feet have five toes, the hind 

 four, and all the feet are covered on the under side with strong coarse fur, 

 enabling the hare to travel on hard, frozen ground where hounds would be 

 lamed-j Jhe up|>er -lip has a peculiar slit, which has the appearance of a 



