BEAGLES. 8; 



It may here be of some assistance to make a few remarks 

 upon the best method of hunting a pack of beagles in pursuit 

 of a hare. 



It must, of course, be borne in mind that the following hints 

 only apply to hounds perfectly to be trusted, and are especially 

 inapplicable to a pack which contains any babblers or mute 



hounds. A pack of beagles should 

 not be left too much to them- 

 selves. This sounds a somewhat 

 startling statement, and it must 

 be at once conceded that too 

 much and untimely interference 

 is a far greater evil than too little, 

 for it inclines hounds to become 

 slack ; but a pack of beagles may 

 be trained to hunt with nearly as 



much dash as foxhounds, without , 



losing any of their accuracy, and 1 



this will never be attained by an ' 'I'^e pain of w.: 



absolutely 'let alone' system. One 



great step towards the attainment of this dash will be gained 

 by always encouraging the body of the pack to go forward 

 quickly ' to cry,' and by insisting on the tail hounds being 

 prevented from lingering, which is often a fault with beagles. 

 Colonel Anstruther Thomson says : ' It is the judicious en- 

 couragement of hounds to hunt when they cannot /-««, and 



