82 HUNTING. 



scentless and invisible ; they will walk over her, jump over her, 

 and even step upon her, but so long as she remains motionless 

 they take no more heed of her than of the turnip or clod under 

 which she is crouching. 



The interference of the amateur or volunteer huntsman with 

 his uncouth noises and grotesque gestures must at all times be 

 sternly repressed. Was there ever a happier rebuke than the 

 one administered by the late Sir Richard Sutton to a stranger, 

 whom he found gesticulating with outstretched fingers to the 

 puzzled pack ? ' When you have quite done feeding your 

 chickens, sir, perhaps you will allow me to cast my hounds.' 



Hares are weaker, and come to hand far more readily before 

 Christmas than later on in the season ; January, February, and 

 March, being the months when the best sport may be looked 

 for. Though running in rings of more or less circumference is 

 the rule, there are occasions when a hare of exceptional stamina, 

 usually an old Jack, will travel a four or five mile point in a 

 style which would do credit to a fox ; these are of course the 

 red-letter days which can only be expected to occur at most 

 three times during the year, though a series of lucky changes 

 may sometimes give the same result as to distance, and appear 

 the same thing to the majority of the field. 



The ' amari aliquid ' inseparable from all sport ' surgit ' in 

 the one of which we are writing, at the death of the hunted 

 animal. There is no more pitiful, more helpless object than a 

 thoroughly tired-out hare, hopping the last fifty yards of her 

 career, in front of the pack. Contrast this spectacle with that 

 of a fox beaten to a stand-still in the middle of a field, and 

 the leading hound just running into him. We know at least 

 which of this pair looks the most afraid. 



Yet hares, if they are to be hunted at all, must sometimes 

 be killed ; they have at any rate a better chance with harriers 

 than before a brace of greyhounds, or a shot-gun, and it is not 

 wise for the pursuer too closely to analyse the feelings of the 

 pursued. 



In performing the last rites, the paunch is a sufficient reward 



