204 COURSING 



fifteen miles from Cliffe, and is not very plentifully populated 

 by hares, it is seldom resorted to, and indeed is mostly used 

 for trials. I have occasionally seen rare good coursing here, 

 and once remember to have witnessed the driving of a few 

 acres of Brussels sprouts, with the result that half a dozen 

 capital spins were obtained. 



The first meeting of the club's season is usually held in 

 the same week as that of the South of England Club at Stock- 

 bridge, and sometimes at this fixture long grass is a sad de- 

 terrent to the sport. Indeed, the * marshes ' have to be very 

 carefully chosen early in the autumn, or else the mortality 

 among the hares is out of proportion, and the trials too short 

 and fluky. As soon as there has been half a dozen degrees of 

 frost in the night, the grass is laid, and the going of the very 

 best. The hares are on the whole very strong indeed, so much so 

 that ' homes ' are scattered about the marshes, and if this was 

 ,not the case there would be any amount of distress amongst the 

 puppies, who, as it is, sometimes get courses of abnormal length. 



The run up is perhaps the least satisfactory part of the busi- 

 ness, the lead being often of very little value at Cliffe, owing to 

 the fact that a majority of the hares lie close to the dram-side, 

 and that in consequence the slipper is obliged to give them very 

 short law 7 , or else miss them altogether. The drains are very 

 much wider than those at Altcar, and hares rarely jump them 

 when coursed, but usually make for the gateway and bridge 

 leading on to the next marsh. There are, generally speaking, an 

 entrance and exit to each enclosure, and great pains are taken 

 to prevent the crowd getting in the way of these modes of 

 egress ; the result is that the drains are seldom used by puss 

 unless she is very hard pressed, and then she generally tries to 

 swim, and is often seized in the water. From the above it 

 will be noticed that Cliffe and Altcar are really quite dissimilar, 

 and I have frequently met disappointed individuals who have 

 taken dogs into Kent with a view to a Waterloo trial, and who, 

 when considering the matter afterwards, have recollected that 

 no drain jumping was brought into play. 



