HUNTING WITH FOOT-HARRIERS 251 



in these bad times, he is not quite so keen on fox- 

 hunting as he or his forbears used to be, he can join 

 heart and soul in the sport of the foot-hunter ; and if 

 he is too well up in years to follow the chase himself, 

 can usually nick in here and there, or from some chosen 

 eminence view the hounds pushing their hare with 

 merry cry over the more open country. Foot-hunting 

 is a form of sport I think much more adapted for 

 hills, downland, or open marshes than in strongly 

 enclosed country, where the view is hindered by big 

 timbered hedge-rows. Perhaps the finest country of 

 all, from a spectacular as well as a sporting point of 

 view, lies in the wide, well-drained marshes of the coast 

 line of East Sussex, where, from the low hills surround- 

 ing the great grass " levels," magnificent views of the 

 whole panorama of the chase are frequently to be 

 obtained, even if the spectator is not inclined to do 

 much running. 



Dyke- jumping is a particular feature of hare-hunt- 

 ing in this locality, and the man who can long- jump 

 fairly well, has a sound wind, and is keen on the sport, 

 can have some of the best hare-hunting in England. 

 An athletic training stands one in excellent stead for 

 this phase of the sport. Some of the dykes are so 

 wide that a man must be able to clear fourteen or 

 even fifteen feet to get over. To an athlete in light 

 running costume and spiked shoes that distance, of 

 course, sounds very little. But put the same man 

 into winter clothing, tweeds, knickerbockers, and 

 boots, and offer him a poorish take-off on heavy, and 

 perhaps, greasy ground, and a leap of fourteen feet 

 means a good deal. The man who can get over a 

 Sussex dyke containing say twelve feet of water, 

 would, in athlete's costume, on a fine day and from 

 a good take-off, readily clear eighteen or nineteen 



