CHAPTER XXI. 



THE HARRIER. 



BY THE LADY GIFFORD, M.H. 



And since we have the vaward of the day, 

 Mv love shall hear the music of my hounds : 

 Uncouple in the western valley ; let them go : — 

 Despatch, I say, and find the forester." 



— "Midsummer Night's Dream. 



THE Harrier is a distinct breed of 

 hound used for hunting the hare — 

 or rather it should be said the Asso- 

 ciation of Masters of Harriers are doing their 



HARRIERS AT WORK. 



BlBLIOTHEQUE N 



A. BAILLIE-GROHMAN, ESQ. 



utmost to perpetuate this breed ; the Harrier 

 Stud Book bearing witness thereto : and it 

 is to be deplored that so many Masters of 

 Harriers ignore this fact, and are content 

 to go solely to Foxhound kennels to start 

 their packs of Harriers, choosing, maybe, 

 20 inch to 22 inch Foxhounds, and thence- 

 forth calling them Harriers. And indeed, 



if it were not for the Stud Book we should 

 soon lose the breed of hound that can boast 

 of possibly greater antiquity than any other. 

 For did not the cavalry soldier Xenophon 

 at the age of fifty-four keep 

 a pack of Harriers, over two 

 thousand years ago — which he 

 hunted on foot near Olympia 

 in Elis ? He has left behind 

 him a disquisition on hounds 

 and hunting which any Master 

 of Harriers would do well to 

 study ; for it evinces a mar- 

 vellous mastery of this par- 

 ticular form of hunting. Be- 

 ginning with a description of a 

 good hound, the points of which 

 are practically the same as we 

 seek in a good hound of to-day, 

 Xenophon also enumerates the 

 faults of a bad hound, point- 

 ing out most clearly what to 

 guard against in make and 

 shape, and afterwards, in the 

 hunting field, what to look for, 

 to note, and check. He also 

 describes minutely the ways of 

 a hare, and how she should be 

 hunted, showing most perfect 

 knowledge of his subject in every particular. 

 In forming a pack of Harriers, opinions 

 differ as to what standard of height it is 

 advisable to aim at. If you want to hunt 

 your Harriers on foot, 16 inches is quite 

 big enough — almost too big to run with ; 

 but if you are riding to them, 20 inches is a 

 useful height, or even 19 inches. Either 



