70 THE TRINITY FOOT BEAGLES 



friendly, and they were glad to see us on their farms, though in 

 these days we liad no farmers' dinners or other festivities by way of 

 making any return to them for their hospitality to us. 



We appear to have generally hunted with the beagles two or 

 three days a week, but in March 1870 they seem to have been out 

 four days out of five. 



When we had one man mounted it seemed a great assistance, as 

 he could watch the hare running the roads, which they often did, 

 and could stop hounds if a fresh hare got up in view. 



The time of the meets was 1.30 or 2 o'clock — and of course a hare 

 is much more difficult to kill at that time than if she is hunted at 

 an earlier hour. 



We seldom had any opposition to our hunting, by farmers or 

 others. Once, I remember, in the fen we had been running some 

 time, and our hare was about close, and squatted ; some rough fen 

 men joined in, and one of them sent his lurcher after the hare. 

 This roused the anger of the beaglers, and I remember one of the 

 undergraduates hurled a large stone at the dog with great precision, 

 and knocked it over. The owner was furious, and we expected a 

 fight. The stone-thrower told the man he was no sportsman, and 

 to go home with his d — d dog. The fen man then told us we were 

 all trespassers, and he should summon us. And it really did 

 transpire that the land belonged to him — anyhow, that one field 

 did. This shows that sportsmen should be rather particular when 

 hunting in a neighbourhood where one does not know tlie boundaries 

 of the farms, or the owners of land by sight. We, however, heard 

 no more about being summoned. 



Here follow some observations from the same contributor, on 

 the habits of hares when hunted : — 



"It is curious how hares vary in their habits, according to their 

 surroundings, and in the manner of evading pursuit. In a bank 

 and ditch country like Essex I have known a hare in front of 

 beagles run the ditch round three sides of a field to avoid being 

 seen. I was on another occasion hunting beagles in a country 

 where hares were coursed, and on the hounds coming to a shed I 



