HARE-HUNTING. 765 ^ 



Persisting still, she'll find the beaten track. 

 But if she fly, and with the fav'ring wind 

 Urge her bold course, less intricate the task ; 

 Push on the pack." 



Besidies running the foil, hares frequently make doubles, 

 which is going forward, to retrace the same steps, on purpose 

 to confuse their pursuers ; and the' same manner in which 

 khey make the first double they generally continue, whe- 

 ther long or short. If the huntsman will attend to this 

 observation, it may prove useful to him in his casts. 



An old hare, when hunted, seems to regulate her flight 

 from the very first, according to the speed of her pursuer. 

 She knows, from experience, that very rapid flight would be 

 less certain of carrying her out of the reach of danger than a 

 more deliberate one, whereby the chase is protracted to a 

 greater length of time, and she can continue the exertion of 

 her strength longer than if she put forth her full speed at 

 first. She seems to have observed that, in grounds where 

 there are many young shrubs, the contact of the whole of 

 the body leaves behind a stronger scent. She, therefore, 

 avoids all thickets, and keeps as much as possible upon 

 beaten roads ; but when pursued by greyhounds she runs 

 from them as fast as possible. Knowing that terriers, even 

 though they do not see her, can follow her track : she often 

 practises an admirable stratagem to deceive them. When 

 she has run for a considerable time in a straight line she 

 returns a small distance upon the road she has come, in 

 order to render the scent very strong upon this space of 

 ground ; she then makes several long leaps, in a side direc- 

 tion, and thereby renders it difficult to recover the scent. By 

 this means the hounds are often put at fault, and the hare 

 enabled to get a considerable way a-head, and she thereby 

 frequently efiects her escape. When they make this double 



