84 HARE-HUNTING AND HARRIERS 



Wales, seventeen-and-a-half- to eighteen-inch ; the 

 Plas Machynlleth, North Wales, a cross-bred eighteen- 

 inch pack ; Mr. Sperling's, eighteen-inch pure harriers, 

 South Devon ; the Stockton, seventeen-and-a-half- 

 inch Stud-book harriers ; the Trethill, seventeen- 

 inch pure harriers, Cornwall ; and the Winder- 

 mere, eighteen-inch, described as " harriers." The 

 smallest harriers of which I can find record are 

 Mr. Frank Wood's, hunting from Newton-le- Willows, 

 Lancashire. These are also described as " harriers," 

 and their height as no more than sixteen inches, which 

 is no greater a stature than that of a fair number of 

 beagles. 



To my mind the ideal height for harriers is from 

 eighteen to nineteen inches. Twenty inches should 

 be an outside measurement, and the pack will be all 

 the better for hare-hunting, in my humble opinion, if 

 the Master from the beginning rigorously makes up 

 his mind to draft hounds over that standard. Twenty- 

 one inches is too big for a good harrier ; and for a perfect 

 pack, which every Master after all tries to attain to, 

 although few, indeed, have the luck to reach the 

 summit of their desires, it is desirable rather to have 

 hounds averaging under twenty inches. For several 

 seasons I have hunted with a pack of nineteen-inch 

 harriers of old English blood, much of it Southern 

 hound. I find these harriers fast enough and clever 

 enough — their noses are good enough for anything — to 

 account for their hares in masterly fashion. 



Having dealt with the question of height, let us 

 now, in looking at the modern harrier, consider his 

 colour, shape, and other qualities. With a view of 

 assisting the reader in this respect, I have included 

 among the illustrations reproductions of a number of 

 hound photographs, which, I believe, as demonstrating 



