PORTUGAL 255 



the others, with their ears pointed, wait to seize the rabbits when 



they come out. On unenclosed land the ferret is used to drive them 



out of their burrows. Professional " sportsmen," who live by the 



sale of game, often catch rabbits by placing nets at the mouth of 



their burrows. 



Hares are generally shot, with the exception of those found in 



the Lezirias of the Tejo, where they are abundant, and in Idanha, 



district of Castello Branco. The Minho, although 



Hares. 

 mountamous, is an exception to this rule, there still 



being some proprietors who keep greyhounds and course the hare. 

 Even in my time there still existed in that province the hare- 

 finder {Jcbreiro), who lived exclusively by finding out the forms of 

 hares. 



The hunting of hares in the Lezirias and in the Sapal do Tejo, 

 for which small, but very fieet, horses are used {cavallos dos canipinos), 



is certainly the best sport that is to be found at present 



. . . Hare-hunting, 



in Portugal. General Oueiroz, aide-de-camp of His 



Majesty, and a great lover of this kind of sport, possesses several 



beautiful leashes of greyhounds, some of English breed,* given by 



the King, with which he hunts. Although sixty years of age, a 



week rarely passes without his going with his greyhounds and swift 



country horses to the Lezirias to hunt hares. Lately the breed 



of greyhounds has been much improved by crosses between good 



English and French breeds. In Idanha, where the Marquis of 



Graciosa and Dr. Paulo Cancella principally hunt, the hounds of 



* There is no import duty on dogs ; a small sum (100 reis = 35d.) is paid on each dog 

 passing through the Custom House. 



