288 HARE-HUNTING AND HARRIERS 



of policy, and of honour, the Master of beagles will 

 interview the Master of foxhounds and come to an 

 amicable understanding with him as to hunting hare. 

 Some Masters of foxhounds are extremely tolerant 

 in this matter ; they believe in the principle of live 

 and let live, and will even declare that harriers and 

 beagles do good to fox-hunting by driving outlying 

 foxes into the coverts where they are most readily 

 found. A few fox-hunters, it must be admitted, are 

 very difficult to deal with. With such, perhaps, the 

 suaviter in modo treatment having failed, the remon- 

 strances of a farmer or two, who have the right of refusal 

 to all hounds, and who favour hare, may prove availing. 



It is most desirable for both parties that an under- 

 standing shall be come to. And the foxhound Master, 

 on his part, will be well advised to make honourable 

 terms with the foot-beagler, who, after all, can do 

 him little, or no, harm. As a matter of fact, the 

 average fox-hunter who is, in the very nature of things, 

 a good sportsman at heart, finds little objection to 

 a quiet pack of beagles, properly conducted, the 

 management of which will, of course, make their 

 arrangements to hunt on the days when foxhounds 

 are not in the same neighbourhood. Courtesy and 

 good feeling between all parties, which are always 

 desirable, are, one is glad to say, the almost invariable 

 rule in these matters. 



As regards greyhounds and coursing versus beagles, 

 there is, naturally, some little friction at times between 

 the two exponents. Harrier- or beagle-men, who have 

 long hunted a particular country, can scarcely be 

 expected to regard with equanimity the invasion of 

 coursers and greyhounds. And, vice versa, old cours- 

 ing men — and it is to be remembered that coursing 

 is a very ancient pastime — cannot see without jealousy 



