THE HARE AND ITS WAYS 57 



always to be remembered by the huntsman. When 

 scent fails, as it often does upon a road or path which 

 a hare has traversed, the science of " pricking " comes 

 in. The men who can prick a hare by its " spoor," 

 or footprints, are even greater rarities than good 

 road-hounds. In Beckford's time this practice seems 

 to have been regarded with disfavour, and one old- 

 fashioned sporting author of the eighteenth century 

 speaks of it with contempt. He calls it " foul sporting," 

 and as unfair as " the vile practice of hallooing hounds 

 off a scent to lay them on after a view.''^ He adds, 

 " equally unfair and to be condemned is the suffering 

 the pricks of the hare's footing to be smoothed when 

 she runs the foil : for altho' it is admitted that by 

 such pricking and discovering her steps no Hare 

 can escape, yet it is an unmanly mode of assisting 

 Hounds, which no Huntsman, who is a Sportsman, 

 will ever be guilty of himself, or condescend to make 

 use of when done by others." 



This hatred of pricking is quite unintelligible to 

 the modern hare-hunter, and at the present day the 

 practice is considered perfectly legitimate. Personally, 

 I cannot see why it should ever have been thought 

 otherwise. Many a hare that would otherwise have 

 escaped the pack has been handled, thanks only to 

 the skilful pricking of some expert in that nice and 

 most difficult business. It is an invaluable gift, espe- 

 cially with foot harriers and beagles, and every hunts- 

 man and whip — one might almost say every good 

 hare-hunter — ought to try and cultivate it. 



I have said that hares will take readily to fresh 

 water ; instances where they will swim out to sea 

 are of much rarer occurrence. In the season of 1900-1, 

 however, in a run with the Hailsham Harriers, 

 a foot pack which sees a good deal of its hunting 



