MODERN HARRIERS 93 



Show, his views are not only entitled to the greatest 

 respect, but are certain to be of interest to all harrier- 

 men, and I have with great pleasure here reproduced 

 them. 



" To write on the various merits of the different 

 descriptions of hounds used to hunt the hare," says 

 Mr. Gibbons, "is no very easy task ; for there are 

 few sporting subjects on which so few men can be 

 found to agree. It is not very easy to say why this 

 should be, for Masters of foxhounds have long ago 

 decided on the type of hound they wish to hunt the 

 fox with, which is, practically, identically the same 

 in all hunting countries, with the exception of the 

 wilder parts of Wales, where a rougher description 

 of hound is still to some extent used. The rough 

 Welsh hound, however, makes no headway outside 

 this particular district, probably because this class 

 of hound cannot be bred to the levelness of pace 

 which is necessary to make hounds pack together 

 when going at top speed ; which quality is a sine 

 qua non in any country where hounds can be ridden 

 up to in the modern style. But I am straying from 

 my subject, that of the different sorts of harriers. I 

 think that perhaps the main reason of the existence 

 of the very different types of hounds lies in early 

 education and custom. The man who was entered 

 with the light-coloured hounds of the West country, 

 which have a character all their own, does not forsake 

 his first love ; the same with the man of Lancashire, 

 who swears by the large, blue-mottled, deep-toned 

 hounds used in that country ; while the man who 

 began his hare-hunting with a pack of small, smart 

 foxhound bitches will be equally sure that he is right 

 in his choice. Now, in a country where it is not 

 possible to ride continuously close to hounds, there 



