THE HARE AND ITS WAYS 55 



quently follow, and when a check happens the hunts- 

 man, if he understands his business, will usually cast 

 that way. The ringing tactics of the hare are, of 

 course, one chief reason why sport with harriers can 

 be conveniently enjoyed on foot. A good runner 

 need never be very far away from hounds, and even 

 ladies and people of middle age, especially if the chase 

 is in fairly open country, can see a good deal of the 

 fun. " After a rainy night in a woody country," 

 says Daniel, " neither buck nor doe will keep the 

 cover, owing to the drops of wet hanging to the spray ; 

 they therefore run the highways, or stony lanes, for, 

 as the scent naturally lies strong, they hold the roads 

 which take the least, not that a hare judges upon what 

 soil the scent lies weakest ;* it is her ears that chiefly 

 direct her, for, the hounds being oftener at fault on 

 the hard paths than the turf, she finds herself not so 

 closely pressed, and is not so much alarmed with the 

 continual cry of the dogs at her heels. The louder 

 the cry the more she is terrified, and flies the swifter, 

 the certain effect of which is a heart broken sooner, 

 than with a pack equal in number and goodness, but 

 who spend their tongues less free." There is much 

 sense in much of this, especially in the latter remark. 

 I believe in plenty of hound music with harriers ; 

 not only are the deep voices of the old-fashioned 

 harrier blood delightful to hear, but the hare is per- 

 petually alarmed by them, and a good cry serves 

 indubitably, as Daniel remarks, towards hastening 

 that end and object of the chase, towards which 

 huntsmen and hounds are striving so indefatigably. 



* Here I join issue with this writer. I have no doubt what- 

 ever that the unerring instinct, or reasoning power, of the hare 

 prompts her to choose cold ploughs and greasy fallows with never- 

 failing resource, and with the sole object of baffling her foes. 



