SOME ENGLISH COURSING CLUBS 183 



together on the first day of the meetings, and annually hold 

 their first fixture in the early part of November. Their second 

 gathering has, however, been moved forward about a month, 

 to make way for the Waterloo Cup, which is run for over the 

 same ground ; and whereas the membership was twenty strong 

 some sixty years ago, it is now of nearly three times the 

 strength, whilst honorary members have almost disappeared 

 from the list. This membership of Altcar is an honour which 

 is eagerly coveted by all good coursers, and perhaps no 

 higher evidence as to the prestige of the club can be afforded 

 than the fact that the greatest care has always been main- 

 tained whenever the ballot box has been in requisition. A 

 courser who is elected a member of the Altcar Club has been 

 thereby embossed with the hallmark of the leash, and it is 

 satisfactory to note that the first great essentials for member- 

 ship are a liberal patronage of the sport, and a line of conduct 

 in public coursing which must be altogether above suspicion. 

 Social position, too, is justly made something of a sine qu& 

 non, but it is not the case (as has been sometimes alleged) that 

 the club is a peculiarly exclusive one. Although it recognises the 

 fact that a long purse in coursing has as much power as else- 

 where, it insists that an applicant shall have served a proper 

 apprenticeship, and shall have proved himself (as far as can 

 be judged) a stayer at the game. 



As may be easily understood, Lancashire men are numeri- 

 cally stronger in the club than sportsmen from any other 

 county ; but this is perfectly natural, for coursing is the sport 

 of the County Palatine, and where the nature of the land will 

 not admit of riding across country, it can easily be under- 

 stood that greyhounds are to the Lancashire man what 

 foxhounds and harriers are to the denizens of more accommo- 

 dating counties. Then, again, the South Lancashire seaboard 

 probably carries a greater head of hares than any other portion 

 of the Kingdom, and go to whatever public coursing you will, 

 nowhere else are to be seen the droves of hares which come 

 down the ground at Altcar when beating operations have begun. 



