COURSING. 



BY G. IRAVIX ROYCE, M. D. 



O other field sport or contest with animals 

 attracts such universal attention as coursing. 

 It is devoid of unpleasant and objectionable 

 features that attach to horse-racing, gun- 

 ning, and many other legitimate field sports, 

 which in themselves are comparatively harmless; but 

 associations attending them prevent their being engaged 

 in or enjoyed by those who are endowed with intensified 

 moral sentiments. 



But coursing, or contesting the speed of greyhounds, 

 although comparatively new in this country as a scien- 

 tific contest, has an assured popularity, and justly so, for 

 the old and young, ladies and gentlemen, can attend a 

 coursing meet with perfect propriety, and with the most 

 intense pleasure. 



Local clubs are being formed in all portions of the 

 United States, and the graceful greyhound is eagerly 

 sought after, not only for field-work, but as a suitable 

 companion for a lady on horseback or a gentleman on a 

 stroll, and as a necessary adjunct to complete an elegant 

 turnout, and also as an ornament for the lawn. 



The younger Xenophon, in his description of the grey- 

 hound when first introduced into Greece, says: 



' * In figure the most high-bred are a prodigy of beauty 

 their eyes, their hair, their color, their bodily shape 

 throughout. Such brilliancy of gloss is there about the 

 spottiness of the parti-color, and, in those of uniform 



(443) 



