NOVEMBER. 



COURSING. 



By Aubyn Trevor-Battye. 



It is not strange that the votaries of coursing should assert 

 emphatically, as so many of them do, that England holds no other 

 sport so fine. The marvellous speed of the greyhound is in itself 

 sufficient to account for this. It is said — I believe with truth — 

 that the Cheetah (Chita), or hunting leopard, can for a short dis- 

 tance surpass the greyhound on a turn of speed. But it is, is it not, 

 matter of history that the famous racehorse, Flying Childers, was 

 beaten by a Greyhound ? And even now there are rumours again 

 of a match impending between a champion of either kind. But 

 matches of this sort are very hard to bring fairly off. It is almost 

 impossible, under these circumstances, to ensure your Greyhound 

 running "all it knows." The writer personally will never believe 

 that the best racehorse that ever was foaled could beat a crack 

 Greyhound, if the Greyhound meant to win. 



With the exception of the bulldog, whose use has passed away, 

 the Greyhound, as a specialized type of domestic animal, stands 

 quite alone. There is far more difference between a Greyhound 

 and any other form of sporting dog— the deerhound excepted — 

 than between the closest bred racer and the clumsiest cart horse 

 that ever pulled a plough. 



