286 THE COMPLETE FOXHUNTER 



found which will never go near a covert, and where 

 there is bad scenting ground, which would bring 

 powers of nose into play. On the other hand, nine 

 hares out of ten are overmatched on a day of good 

 scent when hunted by pure foxhounds, or by very big 

 harriers which are so well bred that they can go as 

 fast as foxhounds. And much depends upon the coun- 

 try and the hares. In some of the corn countries the 

 hares are big, fat, and incapable of standing up before 

 hounds as do the hares on the moorlands, the marshes, 

 or the down countries. It is greatly a question of 

 training. It is said that unless it is hunted, or fright- 

 ened off its usual ground, a hare will spend its life 

 within half a mile of the place of its birth, provided, of 

 course, that there is a sufficient supply of food within 

 the area. But in a very open country where little or no 

 corn is grown, where, in fact, there is practically no 

 tillage land, a hare must travel for its food, and when 

 hares have to do this they are in far better condition to 

 be hunted than those who feed night after night in the 

 same field, and perhaps have their form in the adjacent 

 hedgerow while they are resting. Some years ago, 

 when the country was undergoing a long snowstorm, 

 there were no stubbles, and only one "seed" field in 

 the parish where we were living. After a few days one 

 noticed that the hares were feeding regularly on these 

 seeds, and after a fresh fall of snow the experiment was 

 made of tracking some of these hares to their forms, 

 when it was found that some had come two or three 

 miles to the seeds. 



As to how greatly the strength and stamina of 

 English hares varies the harrier man would probably 

 learn something from the coursing man, who goes the 

 round of the more important coursing meetings, and 



