SHOOTING HARES. 600 



234. Should he persist in running after hares, you must 

 employ the checkcord. If you see the hare, at which he 

 is pointing, in its form, drive a peg firmly into the ground, 

 and attach the cord to it, giving him a few slack yards, 

 so that after starting off he may be arrested with a 

 tremendous jerk. Fasten the line to the part of the 

 spike close to the ground, or he may pull it out. 



235. I have known a dog to be arrested in a head- 

 long chase by a shot fired at him an act which you 

 will think yet more reprehensible than the previous 

 mismanagement for which his owner apparently knew 

 no other remedy than this hazardous severity. 



236. When you are teaching your dog to refrain 

 from chasing hares, take him, if you can, where they are 

 plentiful. If they are scarce, and you are in the neigh- 

 borhood of a rabbit-warren, visit it occasionally of an 

 evening. He will there get so accustomed to see the little 

 animals running about unpursued by either of you, that 

 his natural anxiety to chase fur, whether it grow on the 

 back of hare or rabbit, will be gradually diminished. 



237. In Scotland there are tracts of heather where 

 one may hunt for weeks together and not find a hare ; 

 indeed, it is commonly observed, that hares are always 

 scarce on those hills where grouse most abound. In 

 other parts they are extremely numerous. Some sports 

 men in the Highlands avail themselves of this contrasted 

 ground in order to break a young dog from " chasing." 

 They hunt him, as long as he continues fresh, where 

 there are no hares; and when he becomes tired, they 



