loo HARE-HUNTING AND HARRIERS 



from the on-coming hounds ! Beckford had a pre- 

 judice against hare-finders which, I confess, I do not 

 share. He maintained that they made hounds idle 

 as well as wild. " Mine," he says, " knew the men 

 as well as I did myself ; could see them almost as 

 far and would run full cry to meet them." It would, 

 of course, be unwise to let them get into such a habit 

 as Beckford indicates ; but in my experience this 

 is not often likely to happen, and I am bound to say 

 I have seldom known hounds spoilt in this manner. 

 In Beckford's time hare-finders seem to have been 

 weU paid for their pains, and at the present day, where 

 hares are scarce, it is just and politic to encourage 

 native talent among shepherds, labourers, and the 

 like, by rewards now and again. 



But hare-finders — even the best of them — are not 

 always certain of picking up a hare quickly, and in 

 any case it is right and necessary that hounds should 

 be taught to scatter well, so soon as the signal is given, 

 and they are thrown off, and hunt out their quarry 

 for themselves. Hounds that show keenness in this 

 respect are most valuable, especially in a country 

 where hares are scarce. Beckford has well said that 

 hare-finders are of great use in one respect : they 

 hinder the hounds from chopping hares, a calamity 

 so fatal to good sport. Some huntsmen — and some 

 hounds also — have a knack of chopping hares, and 

 a very unfortunate knack it is. Usually these are 

 Hunt servants, who are getting careless and lazy, 

 or who are too much occupied in running up a big 

 score of kills. They are by all means to be dis- 

 couraged. 



It has often been debated whether, when a hare 

 is found, she should be put off her seat quietly, before 

 hounds can get a view, or whether the finder should 



