236 HARE-HUNTING 



time, it is manifestly unfair to pursue her with a 

 hound nearly twice the size. A good pack of 

 harriers over eighteen inches, that have been 

 carefully bred, ought never to miss killing their 

 brace of hares every day they go out, but they 

 must not string, and the proverbial sheet should 

 always cover them. A scratch pack that have 

 been collected from the rubbish of other kennels 

 may occasionally chop a hare, but they will very 

 seldom hunt her to death. 



When it is almost a certainty that hounds will 

 have one kill or more each day they hunt, it is 

 impossible to feel that keenness for blood which is 

 the spirit of hunting. No one who is really fond 

 of hounds will rest content until he has his pack 

 almost perfect, and I say that a perfect pack of 

 harriers should kill every hare they find, so that 

 a man after years of trouble and labour in 

 breeding to a certain perfection, sees all his toil 

 wasted in trying to accomplish an end which 

 brings no satisfaction when attained. 



Where there are no foxhounds hunting a cer- 

 tain district, there is always an opening for a 

 pack of harriers, but nothing should be done 

 until the landowners and the farmers have been 



