BIRDS HUNTED FOR SPORT 375 



A.D. 90) in his work on coursing. The ancient Gauls were ex- 

 perts in this form of sport, which was probably introduced into 

 Britain from their country. With us, however, it is now almost 

 entirely replaced by hare-hunting with harriers, which supplies 

 much of the interest of fox-hunting at considerably less expense. 

 We know from Xenophon (b.c. 400) that the ancient Greeks in 

 his time pursued the hare with two kinds of dog, the nature of 

 which is doubtful, though they were certainly not greyhounds. 

 It is hardly necessary to add that the sporting value of the 

 Hare is found in its great speed, coupled with considerable in- 

 genuity in "doubling", calculated to baffle even the swift grey- 

 hound. 



The passion for sport, which is so thoroughly British, is 



Fig. 1266. — Hares coursed by Greyhounds, as depicted on the edge of an Assyrian bronze dish. 



gratified and kept alive among those with slender means by the 

 possibilities which the inexpensive Rabbit {Lepus cimiculus) offers. 

 The use of the Ferret has already been indicated (see p. 369). 

 Nor even here do we reach the lowest plane, for the Brown Rat 

 [Mits decumanus) undoubtedly seems to minister in no small 

 degree to the sporting instincts of a considerable fraction of the 

 community, though it would not be admitted into an orthodox 

 work on Sport. 



BIRDS (AvES) HUNTED FOR SPORT 



In the palmy days of falconry the Grey Heron {Ardea cinered) 

 was, of course, the chief bird pursued for sport, but hawking 

 (for Rooks, Larks, &c.) is now practised by the few (see p. 369), 

 having fallen from its once high estate owing to the introduction 

 of and constant improvement in firearms. Among the numerous 

 species which now fall victims to the art of the gunner the Game- 

 BiRDS (Galling) take first place, and of these, in this country, 

 three are pre-eminent, i.e. Pheasant {Phasianus Colchictis), Red 



