PUBLIC COURSING. 349 



When private coursing is conducted in the above way, it is 

 quite as good a sport as the public kind ; but too often it degene- 

 rates into a series of mobbings of the hare, followed by perpetual 

 squabblings of the owners of the dogs engaged, as to their re- 

 spective merits or demerits. 



PUBLIC COURSING. 



This amusement has now become very general since the last 

 alteration of the Game Laws, which permitted any person to course 

 a hare withovit a certificate. It differs from private coursing, 

 firstly, in requiring rather a different greyhound, and, secondly, in 

 being governed strictly by rules which settle all the preliminaries.. 



The public greyhound, to be successful, must be a dog which 

 can beat his competitors in the stake in which he is engaged, even 

 if he never runs afterwards respectably. Hence, unlike the dog 

 which we have been just considering, everything is sacrificed to 

 this point, and it has at last come to pass that the animal has 

 been bred to such a degeee of cleverness combined with speed 

 that he very soon runs cunning, and is then no longer useful, 

 because he will not exert his powers. The consequence is, that a 

 great many dogs begin by running with extraordinary pace and 

 working powers, but after winning one or two stakes they are not 

 to be depended on. This is so common, that, as a rule, most 

 coursers do not think it worth their while to keep their dogs for 

 more than one season, and bring up a succession of puppies one 

 year after another, reserving only one or two old ones to their 

 second season. It must be remembered that this animal is kept 

 for a specific purpose, namely, to compete with his fellows in 

 killing the hare under certain conditions, which are defined by general 

 consent and lo,id down in certain specified rules. Hence it is not 



