PRIVATE COUBSIXG. 347 



couple of seasons, if used as much and as freely as the greyhounds 

 of most private coursers are expected to be. 



The feeding of these greyhounds should be on oatmeal porridge, 

 with more or less wheat-flour or Indian meal, as described at page 

 289, and flavoured with greaves, or with broth made from flesh 

 of some kind. If half a pound a day, or rather more, of flesh 

 can be given in addition, they will be so much the better, but 

 in that ease they ought to have a couple of hours' exercise every 

 day, without which they become fat and unwieldy. Vegetables 

 should be carefully given, as in all cases with dogs, and due at- 

 tention 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, A.D. 150. When, therefore, grey- 

 hounds 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 

 greyhounds engaged. With him, if he understands the points 

 of the course, it is only necessary to conduct the beating of the 



