COURSING. 67 



flourished for two or three years. Its object was to develop coursing 

 in the United States, by breeding rabbits on their own soil and 

 shipping them to various parts of the country in order that meetings 

 might be held in the large cities and a more general interest aroused.^ 

 The association had 320 acres at Hutchinson inclosed with a wire mesh 

 fence, and imported jack rabbits from California, ISTew Mexico, and 

 Wyoming and turned them loose in this park where in a few months 

 a large number were collected. 'Inclosed coursing,' i. e. running the 

 rabbits in an inclosure instead of on the open plain, was introduced at 

 tlie meeting, held on October 23, 1888. A track half a mile long and 75 

 yards wide was arranged inside the park. The rabbits were started at 

 one end of the track and at the other were allowed to escape from the 

 honnds, through small openings, into a pen, where they were caught 

 for use in another race.^ The ifational Coursing Association held 

 meetings in 1889 at St. Louis, Mo., and Louisville, Ky., and fifty jack 

 rabbits were shipj^ed from the park at Hutchinson to be used in the 

 latter meeting. In 1890 it held a series of meetings at St. Louis, Kan- 

 sas City, and St. Joseph, Mo.; Colorado Springs and Denver, Colo.; 

 Omaha and Lincoln, JSTebr., and Council Bluff's, Iowa. 



Coui-sing has received a wonderful impetus in the West during the 

 last ten years largely through the work of these two clubs, the Inter- 

 state Coursing Club of Merced, Cal., and the Occidental Club of 

 l^ewark, Cal. Since 1890 numerous local clubs have been organized in 

 Montana, South Dakota, IS^ebraska, Kansas, Texas, Colorado, and 

 southern California, and no small number of rabbits are required 

 annually for these meetings. 



The demand for rabbits for this sport seems to have been largely 

 instrumental in bringing about the rabbit drives in California, and as 

 many as a thousand or more have been obtained in one of the large 

 drives. Nearly all the rabbits for coursing in this State come from 

 the San Joaquin Valley. Some of them are caught near Goshen, where 

 they are shipped in coops, containing 24 single stalls arranged in two 

 rows. From 50 to 100 are sometimes required for a single meeting, and 

 the wholesale price varies from $5.50 to $9 per dozen. 



At Wichita, Kans., and Merced, Cal., several persons regularly trap 

 rabbits for coursing. At Wichita, Mr. Chas. Payne captures jack rab- 

 bits by means of a net about a mile in length, made of common cotton 

 seine twine, which is stretched straight across a field. On one side are 

 attached short nets at an angle with the main net, forming a number of 

 fc Vs. The rabbits are driven toward the trap by 6 to 10 men on horse- 

 K back, and 10 to 20 rabbits are considered a good catch for one day. 

 K • Shipping boxes are so arranged that each animal is in a separate com- 

 ■L partment, and the largest hold about a dozen rabbits. Some of these 



I 



'Am. Field, XXX, Nov. 24, 1888, p. 504. 



^See illustrated article on ''Jack Rabbits and Inclosed Coursing," by M. E. 

 inmu^ in Am. Field, XXXIIi; Apr. 26, 1890, pp. 395-396. 



