BEASTS OF THE CHASE.— BEAGLES. 87 



upon the best method of hunting a pack of beagles in pursuit 

 of a hare. 



It must, of course, be borne in mind that the following hints 

 only apply to hounds perfectly to be trusted, and especially 

 that there are no babblers or mute hounds in the pack to 

 be hunted. A pack of beagles should not be left too much 

 to themselves. This sounds a somewhat startling statement. 

 and it must be at once conceded that too much and untimely 

 interference is a far greater evil than too little, but a pack of 

 beagles may be trained to hunt with as much dash as fox- 

 hounds, without losing any of their accuracy, and this will 

 never be attained by an absolutely ' let alone ' system. One 

 great step towards the attainment of this dash will be gained 

 by always encouraging the body of the pack to go forward 

 quickly 'to cry,' and by insisting on the tail hounds being pre- 

 vented from lingering, which is, as a rule, a fault with beagles. 

 When the hounds come to check, do not be in too great a hurry 

 to assist them unless you have certain information of the line the 

 hare has taken, and even then sometimes a smart pack will 

 swing on to the line and get to the point where the hare was 

 viewed more quickly than you could get them there by lifting 

 them, though this is not, of course, always the case. If then 

 you have no information, always allow your hounds to make 

 their own cast before you make yours, and watch proceed- 

 ings closely, for they will often cast themselves in the right 

 direction but not far enough to recover the line. In casting, 

 do not be afraid to cast forward in the first instance. If your 

 hare is forward, time is of far greater importance than if she 

 has doubled, and a good pack of beagles will always be found 

 to have a far greater tendency to swing back when the line is 

 forward than to swing forward when the line is back. Beagles 

 will never go many yards forward without a scent, but it is by 

 no means so certain that they will always take the line as far 

 forward as the hare has gone. This is particularly to be borne 

 in mind on bad scenting days. 



For the rest, if you have a good pack, always believe their 



