4 THE GREYHOUND. 



towards killing the hare, and not necessarily the one which kills 

 her. On this principle every display of cunning leads to a certain 

 loss, because it allows the other dog to do something in the 

 meantime towards killing the hare, in other words, 6 to score one 

 or more points ; ' and consequently the contest is not between 

 the two dogs on the one hand, and the hare on the other, but 

 between the two dogs themselves, as to which shall really in the 

 whole match do the most towards killing the hare. A little 

 * waiting' now and then is a point in favour of the dogs as 

 against the hare, and is often encouraged in private ; but is fatal, 

 if the contest is in public, not only to the present success of the 

 animal, but often to his further existence ; for its display gene- 

 rally ensures his speedy death, unless it comes on after such an 

 amount of work as to excuse its occurrence. Hence the first-rate 

 public dog will often fail to please the private courser, because 

 he will not kill as many hares as the more experienced private one, 

 who would nevertheless, under the fiat of a competent judge, guided 

 by public rules for the decision of courses, be easily beaten by his 

 less sagacious antagonist. 



This difference between the two modes of conducting the sport 

 termed coursing no doubt exists pretty generally, but, as I have 

 already hinted, by no means of necessity, since it is just us easy 

 to run the greyhound in private under the rules for public 

 coursing, as at the Amesbury or Waterloo meetings. But it 

 requires the appointment of a judge, which is not always prac- 

 ticable, and when he is appointed it requires also implicit obedi- 

 ence to his dicta. With this arrangement the private coursing 



