8o HUNTING. 



habitat of hares at various seasons, there are numerous theories, 

 but the farmers and their shepherds, if they will part with their 

 information, are the best guides. An occasional half-crown to 

 the latter is money really well laid out. 



Nota Bene. — The old poacher who knows where 'a hare do 

 mostly bide,' is by no means to be encouraged in his researches, 

 if he does know he do mostly transfer that hare to his own 

 pocket, and if he stumbles upon one by accident he considers 

 himself entided to a pension for life. 



The game once started and hounds fairly in pursuit, the 

 maxim ' leave 'em alone ' can hardly be too rigidly observed, 

 when they come to a check either from over-running, from a 

 bit of cold scenting ground, from cattle foil, or from whatever 

 cause, let them swing and cast ; sit still and give them every 

 chance of rectifying their own error, or of puzzling through the 

 difficulty in their own way ; only when they are utterly non- 

 plussed should the huntsman go to their assistance. View 

 holloas may be, and often are, of material aid, but they are 

 always open to suspicion, especially when there is reason to 

 suppose that the hare is getting tired. Few men can dis- 

 criminate between a fresh and a beaten animal, but everyone 

 is absolutely certain that the hare//^ has seen is the hunted one. 

 In cases of doubt it is best to send the whip quietly forward to 

 interview the owner of the 'voice crying,' and to elicit as far as 

 possible from what direction the hare was coming when last 

 seen, which way was her head, and ivhere the hounds were when 

 she was viewed. The remarkable answ^ers usually given to 

 these apparently simple questions would drive a public-school 

 examiner into a lunatic asylum. Above all things, never try to 

 lift harriers when they are really running. In the attempt to 

 cut off a corner and hasten the desired catastrophe, many a 

 hare has been lost which would otherwise have succumbed in 

 the course of a few minutes. If harriers get their heads fairly 

 up, they take far longer to put them down again than do fox- 

 hounds, who will stoop almost as soon as their huntsman ceases 

 cheering and galloping. The field should never be allowed to 



