82 HARE-HUNTING AND HARRIERS 



gain his ends in a drag- or a fox-hunt, without wishing 

 to burst up an unfortunate hare in a scamper of twenty 

 minutes. Pace, pure and simple, is not the great 

 desideratum in hare-hunting ; nor do I think, as a 

 matter of fact, that it is even in fox-hunting. I am 

 one of those who beHeve that too much has been sacri- 

 ficed to pace with fox-hunting packs, and that sport 

 would be better, even with foxhounds, if there were 

 displayed by its votaries a little less desire for gallop- 

 ing and a little more interest in the actual science 

 of hunting the fox. 



As between the pure harrier-man and the supporter 

 of the cross-bred or Stud-book harrier there is no illi- 

 mitable void of opinion or of practice. The Stud-book 

 harrier is, of course, a faster animal than the old 

 English harrier, and kills his hares with less deliberation. 

 Here and there, no doubt, packs of Stud-book harriers 

 are to be found which favour the foxhound strain 

 unduly and are rather too much for their quarry. But 

 in most packs of what are called harriers there still 

 remains sufficient of the old Southern hound and 

 beagle blood — far away though it may be — to ensure 

 that the hare shall not be done to death without some 

 reasonable chance for her life. In fact, in what is 

 called the harrier, even if it be a Stud-book harrier, 

 showing very strong indications of foxhound blood, 

 there remains some faint trace of that low-scenting 

 and deliberation which made the pursuit of the hare 

 what it ought to be. 



As regards pure harriers, or old English harriers, or 

 what are called Southern harriers, these packs have, 

 within the last fifty or sixty years, been so much 

 improved in pace that they are not, after all, so far 

 behind the Stud-book harrier type as might be sup- 

 posed. Imperceptibly, no doubt, even among these 



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