COURSING THE HARE 



in all directions ; though a famous grazing-place 

 for the hardier breeds of sheep and cattle, it was emi- 

 nently favourable for hares, who found dry lying at 

 all seasons on the hillsides, and were possessed of 

 extraordinary stamina. At no other coursing ground 

 which I have visited was the percentage of kills so 

 small ; but puss had one big pull in her favour, and 

 this often gave her a means of escape when she was 

 hard pressed. It was as follows. 



The enclosures were divided by stone walls, 

 built up to a great height, and having often a 

 sheep rail placed on the top, about a foot or more 

 above the coping stones. At intervals, however, 

 small holes had been made at the bottom of 

 the walls (these are called smouts — doubtless a cor- 

 ruption of smeuse — in the North country), and while 

 puss knew these places, and invariably bolted through 

 when she got a chance, the greyhounds were unable 

 to follow, but often struggled for a moment at the 

 hole before drawing back to leap the wall. This of 

 course allowed the hare a second law, and she would 

 often double down the side of the wall and take 

 advantage of the next ' smout ' to return into the 

 original field. A certain fluky element was thus in- 

 troduced into the High Law coursing ; but that was 

 of no account with the farmers, whose sympathies, by 



