772 MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY. 



cherished when fresh, as after they begin to be fatigued and 

 are run off their mettle. 



It is advisable, when the scent lies well, that huntsmen 

 should (especially if it be against the wind) keep themselves 

 far behind, as it is impossible for the hare to hold forward, 

 nor has she any mode of escaping but to stop short, and when 

 all are past, to steal immediately back. This is often the 

 occasion of an irrecoverable fault in the midst of the wannest 

 sport, and is the best trick the hare has for her life in scent- 

 ing weather. II the huntsman, therefore, is not too forward, 

 he will have the advantage of seeing her manoeuvre, and of 

 assisting his hounds at this critical moment. 



The chief protection which the hare possesses is her exqui- 

 site sense of hearing, and on this she mainly depends when 

 flying from danger. The ears are so constructed, that they 

 can be so turned as to render her exquisitely alive to any 

 noise proceeding from behind, which enables her to avoid the 

 throw of the greyhound, and when hunted, to continue her 

 course until free from the clamour of the hounds. But for 

 the perfection of this organ the hare might run herself blind, 

 or until she died after she was out of danger, from the want 

 of being conscious she was so. No sportsman can correctly 

 assert, that a fresh hare started or coursed ever stops to turn 

 her head to look back : how is she sensible, then, that she is 

 clear from the enemy that pursues her ? Her ears are her 

 constant and unerring instructors. 



We shall close our account of hunting by a laughable anec- 

 dote given by the late Mr. Beckford, descriptive of the riot 

 which even beagles acquire by idleness. Having purchased 

 a small pack of beagles in Derbyshire, he sent his coachman, 

 the servant he could best spare, to fetch them. The journey 

 was long, and Jehu not being much used to hounds, had 

 some trouble in getting them along ; and, to add to his diffi- 



