244 GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 



of the puppies and gave the others to four 

 friends, who were as sanguine as myself in their 

 expectations, and looked forward to bagging 

 every hare that they might happen to wound 

 during the following season. One of my dogs 

 turned out a useful ally in that department ; but 

 his power of scent was comparatively bad, and 

 he was always apt to overrun his birds. He was 

 also naturally hard-mouthed, and time which 

 alone will frequently tend to correct this serious 

 fault seemed in his case rather to aggravate it. 

 It was, moreover, impossible to keep him at heel 

 without a leash when a hare was started. The 

 same faults and propensities probably derived 

 from their sire * were developed to a still higher 

 degree in the dogs that I had given to my friends. 

 Their keepers were in despair, and, with the con- 

 sent of their masters, soon knocked them on the 

 head ; as they all agreed that ' though not worth 

 their keep for a gentleman,' they might become 

 dangerous enemies in the hands of a regular 

 poacher. Indeed, the lurcher which was so 

 much used formerly by persons of that calling, 

 and by whose assistance such great destruction was 

 committed among rabbit warrens was originally 

 a cross between a greyhound and a sheep dog, 



* Mr. Youatt a high authority says that " whatever be 

 the cross, the greyhound will predominate." 



