122 Modern Dogs. 



of the way of careless riders, and give a sharp and 

 merry burst, rather than a careful hunting run. 

 Most hounds now kill their hare in from half an hour 

 to an hour, and no wonder that they can do so when 

 sometimes they have a turn with the fox, and 

 perhaps oftener a chase with the " carted deer." 

 The latter almost a necessity, because a mistaken 

 and ill-judged legislation has caused hares to become 

 very scarce in some districts, where a few years ago 

 they were plentiful. 



The harrier is quite as old a hound as any other. 

 Caius calls him Leverarius, and the Book of St. 

 Albans mentions the hare as a beast of chase in 

 the same list as the fox, the deer, and the wild 

 boar. Still, perhaps, as with most harriers to-day, 

 those of Dame Berners' time would be as much at 

 home with the timorous hare as with the cunning 

 fox or the fleeter red deer. Some modern writers 

 have gone so far as to say that such a thing as 

 a true harrier, one without any dash of foxhound 

 blood in him, is not to be found. Beckford wrote 

 of the harrier as a cross-bred hound, and his own 

 were bred between the large slow hunting southern 

 hound and the beagle. They were fast enough, had 

 all the alacrity desirable, and would hunt the 

 coldest scent. These attributes, added to their 

 plodding perseverance, gave them a distinctive 



