CASTING HARUIERS. 249 



The sighing gale, she springs amazed, and all 

 The savage soul of game is up at once ; 

 The pack full-opening, various ; the shrill horn 

 Resounding from the hills ; the neighing steed, 

 Wild for the chase ; and the loud hunter's shout, 

 O'er a weak, harmless, flying creature, all 

 Mix'd in mad tumult and discordant joy." 



Harriers seldom require casting; in fact, as a 

 general rule, they should not be cast at all. Sup- 

 posing they cannot hold their line over a dry piece 

 of fallow, fifty to one the hare is in the middle of 

 the field \ and while a wild huntsman would be 

 making a scientific cast forwards, his game would 

 take the opportunity of making a more scientific 

 cast backwards — i, e. slipping away behind his 

 back. A sensible man will soon discover whether 

 the hare is a flier or not, and act accordingly. 

 In some localities hares run tolerably straight, 

 having a point to gain in some distant covert ; but 

 field-bred hares almost invariably make a circuit, 

 returning to the place where they were found. 



The two greatest faults in harriers are skirting 

 and hanging on the scent, for which there is no 

 remedy but a charge of powder and shot, in place 

 of a halter, hanging a dog being, in my opinion, a 

 horrible mode of destroying life by slow degrees, 

 his weight not being sufficient to dislocate his 

 neck. 



