HARE-HUNTING 243 



hunter myself to like seeing hounds potter along 

 on a scent and hunt out the line inch by inch, but 

 when I have passed my three-score years I think 

 it might be pleasant to watch such a hunt from 

 the back of a fat cob. It seems a pity to allow 

 the hound and his particular mode of hunting 

 to die out, as it suits the infirmities of old age. 

 After sixty-five we can see little of a fast pack, 

 whether they be harriers or foxhounds, and the 

 old-fashioned harrier would then satisfy our wants. 

 However, I am forgetting that it is the young 

 man to whom I am talking, and he will like 

 something rather quicker. By all means, then, 

 get a pack of the foxhound type — good legs and 

 feet, sloping shoulders and muscular quarters. 

 If you are a good sportsman you will not get 

 them too big, and will remember Somerville's 

 lines at the head of this chapter — 



. . . nor the timorous hare 

 O'ermatched destroy. . . . 



At the beginning of the season, or when you 

 are first starting your pack, I advise you to go 

 out as soon as it is light and try to trail up 

 to a hare. You ought to know beforehand 

 where the hares feed, or you will waste time. 



