LETTER XXVIII. 309 



It is not very easy to find hares sitting on rough 

 fallows, which should be regularly crossed, directing the 

 eye up the ridge, near which they generally sit. The 

 trail of a hare lasts much longer than the drag of a fox, 

 and those who go out rather early will have much pleasure 

 in seeing their hounds work up to her sitting. It is 

 certainly a very exhilirating scene, which I have often 

 witnessed in my younger days — the chorus increasing as 

 the hounds approach nearer their game, and then the 

 full cry as she breaks away in view. Upon such occa- 

 sions I could not forbear a screech or two, and although 

 much noise is not allowed in hare-hunting, yet, when in 

 view, a few screams are, I think, pardonable. Although, 

 when fresh found, hares run tolerably straight, yet no 

 sooner are the hounds out of sight, than they have 

 recourse to those numerous devices which in some 

 countries have obtained for the most cunning the charac- 

 ters of witches. 



In my situation as head whipper-in to my father's 

 harriers, I often took great liberties, and got forward 

 contrary to orders sometimes, to see how any old hares 

 which had beaten us before managed these matters. I 

 have seen them run up a fallow nearly the whole length 

 of a field, then quickly retrace their steps to the point 

 at which they entered, and then spring off at right an- 

 gles, making three or four surprising leaps. They would 

 also, in their circles, hunt the hounds, double through 

 hedges, running a short distance into the field and then 

 returning, running up one side of a hedge, and then 

 going down the other. In stone wall countries they will 

 run on the top of the wall for some distance ; in short, 

 their shifts are often a puzzle to the best pack of 



