268 Modern Dogs. 



training are fed on the best food that can be pro- 

 vided ; they are kept warm, sleep in the house in a 

 cosy corner, and are muzzled and sheeted when 

 outside. Their owners are for the most part working 

 men, and instances are not isolated where their wives 

 and children have gone with empty stomachs, whilst 

 the dogs and their masters regale on rump steaks 

 and chops cut from a leg of mutton. 



Perhaps it may be mentioned that during the past 

 twenty years or so the sport with ''running dogs" 

 and " rabbit coursers," as conducted in the north, 

 has flourished amazingly, and personally I regret 

 that it has done so to the detriment of the more 

 manly pedestrian exercises, wrestling, and the clever 

 game of knur and spell. 



The points and general description of the whippet 

 are, excepting so far as size is concerned, identical 

 with those of the greyhound as they appear on a 

 preceding page, though occasionally comparatively 

 rough coated or wire-haired whippets are met with. 

 Such, of course, show breeding back to the wire- 

 haired terrier, or perhaps to some cross-bred 

 '' lurcher," a few of which are still kept for poaching 

 purposes in various parts of the country. Need I 

 mention that for rabbit coursing staying power as 

 well as pace is required in a whippet, whilst for 

 racing speed alone is the desideratum. 



