THE FUTURE OF HARE-HUNTING 311 



When this sort of conduct is a matter of common 

 practice, it cannot be denied that fox-hunting must 

 be in a bad way indeed. That gross over-crowding 

 and unmannerly conduct have reached a cUmax is 

 made clear by the new regulations of the Pytchley, 

 Warwickshire, and North Warwickshire Hunts, under 

 which all people hunting with those packs, other than 

 owners or tenants of land and subscribers, are now to 

 be capped £2 per head per diem when they appear. 

 Whether even this remedy will suffice to purge the 

 evil may well be doubted ; it is to be feared that even 

 more drastic measures may have to be enforced. 



With harriers no such scenes or such remedies are 

 at present dreamed of. The sport, having quietly 

 regained its former favour, goes peacefully on its way, 

 undisturbed by the din, the turmoils, and the anxieties 

 of modern fox-hunting. Long may it so continue ! 



This book has not been written with any view of 

 enhancing the popularity or increasing the fields of 

 present packs of harriers. The writer is the last person 

 in the world to wish to see this sport visited by the 

 misfortunes of fashionable fox-hunting. But it may 

 be pointed out that large districts in England, Wales, 

 and Ireland are to be found, where at present harriers 

 or beagles are unknown, and where, given the right 

 conditions and the right men, hare-hunting in a 

 modest way might give pleasure to many a country- 

 side.* Where farmers cannot see their way to accom- 

 modating a pack of mounted harriers, they would, I 

 am convinced, often be glad to see foot-harriers or 

 beagles over their land. That this is the case has 



* A reference to the chapters on the various packs of 

 England, Wales, and Ireland, together with the list of 

 beagles in Appendix D, will, with a simultaneous perusal 

 of a map of Great Britain, convince the reader of this fact. 



