OF HARE-FINDERS 67 



them. Hare-finders are of one great use : they hinder our hounds from 

 chopping hares, which they otherwise could not fail to do. I had in my pack 

 one hound in particular, that was famous for it : he would challenge on a 

 trail very late at noon, and had a good knack at chopping a hare afterwards : 

 he was one that liked to go the shortest way to work ; nor did he choose to 

 take more trouble than was necessary. Is it not wonderful that the trail of 

 a hare should lie after so many hours, when the scent of her dies away so 

 soon ? 



Hares are said (I know not with what truth) to foresee a change of 

 weather, and to seat themselves accordingly. This is, however, certain, 

 that they are seldom found in places much exposed to the wind. In in- 

 closures, they more frequently are found near to a hedge than in the middle 

 of a field. They who make a profession of hare-finding (and a very advan- 

 tageous one it is in some countries) are directed by the wind where to look 

 for their game. With good eyes and nice observation, they are enabled to 

 find them in any weather. You may make forms, and hares will sit in them. 

 I have heard that it is a common practice with shepherds on the Wiltshire 

 downs ; and, by making them on the side of hills, they can tell at a distance 

 off, whether there are hares in them or not. Without doubt, people fre- 

 quently do not find hares from not knowing them in their forms. A gentle- 

 man coursing with his friends, was shown a hare that was found sitting. 

 ' Is that a hare ? ' he cried. ' Then, by Jove, I found two this morning as we 

 rode along ! ' 



Though the talent of hare-finding is certainly of use, and the money 

 collected for it, when given to shepherds, is money well bestowed by a 

 sportsman, as it tends to the preservation of his game yet I think, that 

 when it is indiscriminately given, hare-finders often are too well paid. I 

 have known them frequently get more than a guinea for a single hare. 

 I myself have paid five shillings in a morning, for hares found sitting. To 

 make our companions pay dearly for their diversion, and oftentimes BO 

 much more than it is worth ; to take from the pockets of men, who often- 

 times can ill afford it, as much as would pay for a good dinner afterwards, 

 is, in my opinion, an ungenerous custom ; and this consideration induced 

 me to collect but once, with my own hounds, for the hare-finders. The 

 money was afterwards divided amongst them ; and if they had less than 

 half-a-crown each, I myself supplied the deficiency. An old miser who 

 had paid his shilling, complained bitterly of it afterwards ; and said, ' He 

 had been made to pay a shilling for two pennyworth of sport.' 



When the game is found, you cannot be too quiet. The hare is an 

 animal so very timorous, that she is frequently headed back, and your 

 dogs are liable to over-run the scent at every instant. It is best, there- 

 fore, to keep a considerable way behind them, that they may have room 

 to turn, as soon as they perceive they have lost the scent ; and, if treated 



