COURSING 



At the end of the eighteenth and early in the 

 nineteenth century the FHxton meeting in York- 

 shire was notable for the distances run. *The 

 FHxton Hares,' says Daniel, * are so stout that the 

 course is extended sometimes to the length of five 

 and six miles : they are generally found on the 

 side of a hill to the North, which they invariably 

 ascend : at the top they have flat Down for three 

 or four miles, and then a steep descent, after 

 which they ascend a hill almost perpendicular : at 

 the top is a large whin cover into which then 

 hares beat many capital greyhounds, and perhaps 

 it is the only place in England where a hare was 

 ever seen to beat for four miles over turf a brace 

 of the best greyhounds that could be produced.' 

 There is record of a course which took place in 

 February 1798, when a pair of greyhounds 

 belonging to Mr. James Gourtall of CarHsle, killed 

 a hare after running her seven miles: the hare, 

 which was given 200 yards' law, was one that had 

 often been coursed and had always easily beaten 

 the greyhounds : she proved to be a comparatively 

 small one, weighing 8 lbs. 11 oz. 



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