74 HUNTING. 



the best men, horses, and hounds, in the world. He spoils the 

 rich with impunity, and leaves them to pay the costs when he 

 robs the poor. Long may he flourish. It will be an evil day, 

 when, the land being given over to ' Chamberlain and wanton- 

 ness,' the gun, instead of the horn, shall sound the death-knell 

 of the fox. 



HARRIERS AND THE HARE. 



What is the harrier ? Well, the Encyclopaedia tells us that it 

 is 'the English name for the hound used in hunting the hare,' and 

 it would be difficult to give a more definite description, for he 

 would be a bold man who would undertake to say that there 

 is now-a-days a distinct breed of this nature in the United 

 Kingdom, nor is it worth while to inquire whether there ever 

 was such a breed. It may be taken for granted that all harriers 

 have a very strong dash of foxhound blood in them, derived 

 either from immediate or more remote ancestry, and that the 

 packs composed of what are called true-bred harriers are those 

 whose owners have not wittingly purchased drafts from fox- 

 hound kennels, or renovated their blood by a cross therefrom. 



On the other hand, many packs consist entirely of dwarf fox- 

 hounds, that being the simplest, most expeditious, and probably 

 the cheapest method of getting and keeping together a ' cry of 

 hare dogs.' That there is no difficulty in persuading them 

 to run hare, any M.F.H. who has attended to the enter- 

 ing of his puppies during the cub-hunting season will bear 

 witness, but the drawbacks to the system are these : First, as 

 to size. Dwarf foxhounds, dwarf though they be, are apt 

 to be too big, it being difficult to obtain them under 21 or 20 

 inches (they often top 22), whereas harriers that are restricted 

 to their legitimate quarry, and it is of these only that we are 

 writing, should never exceed 19 inches, 17 or 18 being perhaps 

 a better standard, otherwise in countries where the regular sport 

 is carried on they may become an unmitigated nuisance. 



All harriers, except perhaps the wariest veterans, will pursue 



