310 EMPLOYMENT OF THE DOG IN HUNTING, ETC. 
given in addition, they will be so much the better; but in that case 
they ought to have a couple of hours’ exercise every day, without 
which they become fat and unwieldy. Vegetables should be care- 
fully given, as in all cases with dogs, and due attention should be 
paid to cleanliness. In fact, there is no reason why the system 
adopted in the feeding of the public greyhound should not be fully 
carried out. The sport of private coursing may be conducted exactly 
on the same principles as public coursing, excepting that stakes 
are not usually run for, but in almost all cases the dogs are matched 
together, without which the sport is tame and uninteresting. 
The essence of coursing is the competition between the two dogs 
engaged, that being the number which is considered fair to the 
hare, and coursing with more than two being by general consent 
stamped as poaching ever since the days of Arrian, 4.D. 150. When, 
therefore, greyhounds are kept with this purpose, it promotes the 
object of sport if two or more gentlemen will meet together to 
run their dogs in competition with one another; and when this is 
done there is often’ quite as much excitement produced as in the 
most important public meeting. But then there must be a person 
appointed to act as judge, for without this functionary there must 
‘be endless disputes as to the respective qualifications of the grey- 
hounds engaged. With him, if he understands the points of the 
course, it is only necessary to conduct the beating of the ground 
properly, and to appoint a proper peace to slip the greyhounds, 
and then everything is en régle. 
In beating the ground, when there are no : Patients present on 
horseback, tive or six beaters must be provided, whose task is some- 
what onerous if there is much ploughed land, especially in clay 
districts when wet. In any case a line should be formed, with 
one person at every twenty yards, and then walking abreast from 
one extremity of the field to theother, so as either to find the hare 
sitting or to put her up from her form. The proper direction of this 
line of beaters, so as to drive the hare in the best direction, requires 
some considerable experience and tact. Thus, when there is a 
covert near, the beat should be from it, so as to compel the hare 
te go in the opposite direction, by which a sufficiently long course 
is often ensured, whereas olhenwise she would be safe before she 
was well reached. At the end of this beat the men should return 
