34 A YEAR OF SPORT AND NATURAL HISTORY. 



but the slowest may share a good deal of this kind of sport if he 

 have the determination and stamina to see it through. Nearly all 

 authorities, I believe, agree that Beagles which cannot go faster 

 than the best pace of a good runner are worthless. They either 

 do not run down their game at all, or take so long about it that hunt- 

 ing with them becomes no more exciting than the solution of an 

 ingenious puzzle. From this it follows that for pursuit of stout 

 hares on rough heath lands or even on open downs, where no 

 obstacles except hills have to be encountered, dwarf beagles are not 

 of much account. Nevertheless, it does not do to rush to the other 

 extreme, for a pack that differs in nothing but in name from ordinary 

 harriers will frequently run clean away from the field, and thus rob 

 the sport of its most characteristic charm for all but a few, who 

 manage to cut in at the turns. This is why horsemen are so 

 strongly objected to in beagle hunts. A slow pack, if often excited 

 by the presence of horses galloping abreast of it, will gradually 

 acquire the drive that fox-hunters delight in, and a consequent 

 speed greater than the swiftest runners can rival. Beagles thus 

 animated by jealousy may kill hares in dashing style, but without the 

 close and patient hunting which should be their distinguishing merit. 

 On the other hand, a huntsman who lets them alone until they 

 fall into habits of dwelling too long on a scent, and never rouses 

 them to keen energy, will be in danger of losing both hare and 

 followers. Nobody cares to watch hounds of any kind puzzling 

 out a line as if it had got into a tangle, and as if they didn't know 

 which was the right end of it. 



An ideal pack of Beagles is such as Mr. Johnson hunts in Salop 

 not quite big enough, perhaps, to get over rough ground with 

 ease, but fast enough to run a stout hare down in an hour on 



