NATURAL HISTORY. 53 



The BEAGLE is used principally for hare hunting. It is 

 much smaller than the foxhound, and not nearly so swift, 

 but its scent is so perfect that it follows every track of the 

 flying hare, unravels all her windings, and seldom fails to 

 secure her at last. Sportsmen usually prefer the smallest 

 beagles obtainable. The most valuable pack of these dogs 

 known, used to be carried to and from the field in a pair of 

 panniers slung across a horse's back. Unfortunately, this 

 pack was so well known, that numerous were the attempts to 

 gain possession of it. One ill-fated evening, as the dogs were 



THE BEAGLE. 



returning in their panniers after the day's sport, the keeper was 

 decoyed away by some stratagem, and when he returned, his 

 dismay was great to find that the dogs, panniers, and horse were 

 all missing. No traces of them were discovered, and it was 

 conjectured that they must have been sold on the Continent. 

 It is a common custom in the military schools and sometimes 

 at the universities, to follow the beagle on foot. 



