HARE-HUNTING. 9 



them soonest ; it is useless to attempt stopping those 

 up the wind. In heathy countries, in dry weather, 

 foxes will run the roads ; and if gentlemen then ride 

 close upon the hounds, they may drive them miles to no 

 purpose without any scent, as high-mettled fox-hounds 

 will seldom stop whilst horses are close at their heels. 

 Sheep and hirds, by their running and chattering, often 

 give indications of the point of the lost fox. These, 

 however, and many such, are more points of practice 

 than general rules for fox-hunting. The ordinary code 

 of field instructions is comprised in the observations 

 which we have here epitomised : they are the charts by 

 which the huntsman may steer ; it must depend upon 

 his own skill and care, to turn them to profitable ac- 

 count. 



HARE-HUNTING. 



TIME, that changes all things, has not been idle with 

 this division of the chase. Not only is the system of 

 hunting different to that formerly pursued, but the 

 kind of hound used for it is essentially altered. In- 

 stead of the slow, deep-mouthed southern, the diminu- 

 tive beagle, or harrier, a sort of composition between 

 both, the dwindled fox-hound, is now generally em- 

 ployed in hare-hunting. If we understand by the 

 word harrier, the dog constituting a pack of hare- 

 hounds, we shall find him not of any peculiar species, 

 but a combination of various breeds suited to the 



