ARRIAN'S DESCRIPTION OF COURSING. 245 



sport, and is published in Blane's "Cynegetica" in 1788: "The most opulent and luxurious 

 among the Gauls course in this manner. They send out good hare-finders early in the 

 morning to those places where it is likely to find hares sitting, who send back word if they 

 have found any, and what number. Then they go out themselves, and put them up, and 

 lay in the dogs, themselves following on horseback. Whoever has good Greyhounds should 

 never lay them in too near the hare, nor run more than two at a time. For, though the 

 animal is very swift, and will oftentimes beat the dogs, yet when she is first -started she 

 is so terrified by the holloaing, and by the dogs being very close, that her heart is overcome 

 by fear, and in the confusion very often the best sporting hares are killed without showing any 

 diversion. She should therefore be suffered to run some distance from her form and re-collect 

 her spirits, and then if she is a good sporting hare, she will lift up her ears, and stretch out with 

 long rates from her feet, the dogs directing their course after her with great activity of limbs, 

 as if they were leaping, and affording a spectacle worthy the trouble that must necessarily 

 be employed in properly breeding and training these dogs. 



" Those are the best hares that are found in open and exposed places ; for, being bold 

 they do not hide themselves, but seem as it were to challenge the dogs : these, when they 

 are followed, do not immediately try to avoid the danger by running to woods and brakes, 

 though they should happen to be near, but take over the open country ; and when they 

 are contending in swiftness with the Greyhounds, if the dogs which pursue them are not 

 fleet, they moderate their own speed according as they are pressed. But if the dogs are 

 very fleet, they then run as fast as they can ; and when running in an open country, if they 

 find themselves so pressed by a good dog that they perceive his shadow, they try to throw 

 him beyond them by frequent turns, making for the woods or the nearest shelter they know 

 of; and this is a sure sign that the hare is overmatched by the dog 



" It is proper sometimes to speak to the dogs, for they rejoice to hear the voice of 

 their master, and it is a kind of encouragement to them to know that he is present. In the 

 first course there is no objection to speaking to them as often as we choose ; but in the 

 second or third course, when they will probably be weakened, I do not think it right to 

 call them too often by name, lest, by too eager a desire to please their master, they should 

 exert themselves beyond their strength, and hurt their inside, which has been the destruction 

 of many a good dog. 



" If the dog has caught the hare, or otherwise behaved well, you should dismount and 

 encourage him, for they love to be praised. If the dogs through fatigue let the hare escape, 

 they will nevertheless approach with pleasure and caress their master. 



"Those who have not good hare-finders go commonly out, a number in company on 

 horseback ; and coming to a likely place, when they happen to find a hare let the Greyhounds 

 loose after her. But those who are more diligent after the sport go out on foot, and if any 

 one accompanies them on horseback, it is his business to follow the dogs when they run. 

 They beat about, being drawn up in a regular rank, and having proceeded in a direct line 

 to a certain point, wheeling round, they turn about together towards the place from whence 

 they set out by the same way they came, leaving, as far as possible, no likely place unexplored. 

 If many dogs are taken out they should not be stationed promiscuously ; for when the hare is 

 started no one can refrain from slipping his own dog, each being desirous of seeing his 

 own dog run. The hare, being confused and terrified by the noise and number of the 

 dogs, will be taken without showing any sport, and the diversion, which is the chief object, 

 will be spoiled. A person therefore should be appointed to take the command of the sport, 



