Great Coursing Grounds. 373 



short, thick-set little fellow ; but still he ran fast, and 

 in rough ground no one could lay his dogs on more 

 scientifically. 



" It is a common saying," observed Mr. Nightingale, 

 " that hares run so much better after frost, but it is 

 not that the hares run so well after the frost, but that 

 the greyhound generally runs worse at that time. 

 Hares cannot bear starving in wet, and get their 

 backs up ; and dry, windy weather suits them best. 

 A good hare, under such circumstances, will wrench 

 herself to hold her ground ; and a wrench does not 

 count unless a dog is pressing her and forces her out 

 of her track. Hares are very curious, and go by hear- 

 ing far more than sight. I have seen a brace of grey- 

 hounds running actually strike them out of their form, 

 and yet they would sit down again. Shap or Knipe 

 Scar is celebrated for its wonderful hares, and the 

 ' Shapbeckers,' as they are called, have worn out 

 many a good brace of dogs in a one and a-half mile 

 race to the plantations at the top. When a ' Shap- 

 becker' gets on a hare track, with her head for home, 

 perhaps nothing in the world travels faster. The 

 Shap fields are all grass, of 300 or 400 acres each, 

 and are well fenced. There are some scars and 

 bits of boulders, and plumps of trees and smeuses in 

 plenty." 



Mr. Benn, late steward to the Earl of Lowther, was 

 a very good courser in his day, and the owner of 

 Eden, who ran the international match with Dusty 

 Miller. During his great career as a judge, from 

 which (in consequence of a spinal complaint) he re- 

 tired with a handsome testimonial, Mr. Nightingale 

 never had harder work than when he drove in his gig 

 70 miles in 7 J- hours, with four changes of horses, from 

 Harewood to Kendal after judging ; and he was in his 

 saddle at 9 A.M. next morning, all ready for the Shap- 

 beckers. A judge now-a-days has mail trains to 

 help him, and Mr. Warwick finished, about 5 P.M., 



