HARRIERS AND FOX-HUNTING 



CHAPTER XVII 



IN the North, and the West country, the 

 local harrier packs often have a turn up 

 with a fox. Such well known packs as 

 the Cotley, and the Axe Vale, can hunt and kill 

 fox quite as well as foxhounds. The same 

 could be said for the Windermere harriers, a pack 

 of 1 8 inch hounds, which have now unfortunately 

 been given up. Harriers of the old-fashioned 

 type are descended from a long line of keen- 

 nosed ancestors, whose hunting ability and cry 

 are undeniable. They draw thick covert more 

 closely than foxhounds, and are first rate on a 

 cold line. Whilst i8 in. harriers are not perhaps 



as fast as foxhounds, they are quite speedy enough 

 in rough country where it is not always possible 

 to ride right up to hounds. Those judges who 

 advocate hounds of 24 in. and over for fox- 

 hunting would, we imagine, show some surprise 

 if they had a few days with some of the harrier 

 packs which hunt fox. 



On the Lakeland mountains we have often seen 

 harriers hunting fox, both as a pack and in con- 

 junction with fox-hounds. In the latter case 

 the harriers were always there or thereabouts 

 when Reynard was rolled over or put to ground, 

 despite the fact that some of them were a good 

 deal smaller than the foxhounds. Some years 

 ago, we whipped-in for a good many seasons to 

 the Pen-y-ghent Beagles, a pack of 15 in. hounds 



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