292 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Oct. 31, 1889. 



COURSING RULES. 



ADOPTED BT THE EASTERN COURSING CLUB FOR THE GUID- 

 ANCE OF COURSING MEETINGS. 



1. The Judge shall be appointed the night the drawing 

 takes place. The Slippe r find other field officers shall also 

 be appointed on the night of the draw. 



2. Two weeks' notice shall be given of the day of the 

 drawing through the public press. 



3. The drawing shall take place at least three days pre- 

 vious to the ruuniue. when the time and place of putting the 

 first brace of doss into the slips shall be declared. A card, 

 or counter bearihura corresponding num her shall be assigned 

 to each entry. These numbered cards or counters shall then 

 be placed toe ether and drawn indiscriminately. This class- 

 ification once mad? shall not be disturbed throughout the 

 meeting, except for the purpose of guarding, or on account 

 of byesT Dogs whose positions on the card have been altered 

 in consequence of guarding or of byes, must return to their 

 original position in the next round, if guarding does not 

 prevent it. 



4. GUARDING. — When more than one nomination in a 

 stake is taken in one name, the greyhounds, if bona /kZetbe 

 properly of the same owner, shall be guarded throughout, 

 This is always to be arranged, as far as possible, by bringing 

 up the dogs from below to meet those which are to be 

 guarded. This guarding is not, however, to deprive any dog 

 of a natural bye to which he may be entitled, either in the 

 draw or in running through the stake. 



5. Byes.— A natural bye shall be gi\ en to the lowest avail- 

 able dog m each round. No dog shall run a second such bye 

 in any stake, unless it is unavoidable. When a dog is enti- 

 tled to a bye, either natural or accidental, his owner or nom- 

 inator may ran any greyhound he pleases to assist in the 

 course; provided, always, that in Sapling Stakes only a sap- 

 ling may be used, and in Puppy Stakes none older than a 

 puppy. But if it is proved totnesati faction of the Stewards 

 that no puppy can be found to run an accidental bye, the 

 owner shall have the power of substituting an old dog. No 

 dog shall run any bye earlier than his position on the card 

 entitles him to do so. The Judge shall decide whether 

 enough has been done to constitute a course, or whether it 

 must be run again. If at the commencement of any round 

 in a stake, one dng in each course has a bye, those byes shall 

 not be run, but the dogs shall take their places for the next 

 round as if the byes had been run 



6. Postponement of A Meeting. — A meeting appointed 

 to take place on a certain day may, if a majority of the com- 

 mittee (and the Stewards, if appointed) consider the weather 

 unfavorable for coursing, be postponed from day to day; but 

 if the running does not commence within the current week, 

 all nominations shall be void, and the expenses shall be paid 

 by the subscribers, in proportion to the number of nomina- 

 tions taken by each, ]u the case of Produce Stakes, how- 

 ever, the original entries shall continue binding, if the 

 meeting is held at a later period of the season. 



7. Taring Dogs to the Slips.— Every dog must be 

 brought to the slips in proper turn without delay, under a 

 penally of five dollars ($5). If absent for more than tfn 

 minutes (according to the report of any one of trie Stewards), 

 its opponent shall be entitled to claim the course, and shall 

 in that case run a bye. If both dogs be absent at the expira- 

 tion of teu minutes, the Steward shall have power to dis- 

 qualify both dogs, or to fine their owners any sum not ex- 

 ceeding twenty-five dollars ($25) each. No dogs shall be put 

 into the slips for a deciding course until thirty minutes 

 after the decision of the course in the previous round, with- 

 out the consent of its owners. 



8. Control of Dogs in Slips.— The control of all mat- 

 ters connected with slipping the greyhounds shall rest with 

 the Stewards of a meeting. Owners or servants after deliver- 

 ing their dogs into the hands of the Slipper, may follow 

 close after them, but not so as to inconvenience the Slipper 

 or in any way interfere with the dogs, nor must they halloo 

 them on while ruuning, under a penalty of five dollars (#5). 

 Any greyhound found to be beyond control, may be loosed 

 out of the slips, and the course decided by the Rules of the 

 Club. 



9. Greyhounds of Same Color to Wear Collars.— 

 When two greyhounds, drawn together, are of the same 

 color, they shall each wear a collar, and the owners shall be 

 subject to a penalty of one dollar ($1) for non-observance of 

 this rule, the collar to be red for the left-baud side, and 

 white for the right-hand side of the slips. After the first 

 round, the upper dog on the card for the day will be placed 

 on the left hand and the lower dog on the right of the slips. 



10. Trie order to slip may be given by the Judge, or by a 

 Slip-Steward, or the .Stewards of a meeting may leave the 

 slip to the sole discretion of the Slipper. The length of slip 

 must necessarily vary with the nature of the ground, but 

 should never be less than eighty yards, and must be main- 

 tained of one uniform length, as far as possible, through 

 each stake. 



11. The Slipper.— If one greyhound gets out of the slips, 

 the Slipper shall not let the other go. In the case of slips 

 breaking, and either or both dogs getting away in conse- 

 quence, the Slipper may call both dogs back and put them 

 again in the slips at t he discretion of the Stewards. 



12. The Judge shall be subject to the general rules which 

 may be established by the E-isWn Coursing Club for 

 his guidance. He shall, on the termination of each course, 

 immediately deliver his decision aloud, aud shall not r( call 

 or reverse his decision, on any pretext whatever, after it has 

 been declared; but no decision shall be delivered until the 

 Judge is perfectly satisfied that the course is absolutely 

 terminated. 



13. The Judge shall decide all courses upon the one uni- 

 form principle that the greyhound which does the most 

 toward killing the hare, during the continuance of the 

 course, is to be declared the winner. The principle is to be 

 carried out by estimating the value of the work done by 

 each greyhouud, as seen by him, upon a balance of points, 

 according to the scale hereafter laid down, from which also 

 are to be deducted certain specified allowances and penalties 

 —all raw s to be run by courses. 



14. The points of the courses are; 



a. Speed— Wbicb shall be estimated as one, two or three 

 points, according to tUe degree of superiority shown. (See 

 definition a below.) 



b. The Go-By.— Two points, or if gained on the outer cir- 

 cle, three points. 



c. The Turn,— One point. 



d. The Wrench— Haifa point. 



e. The Kill— Two points, or in a descending scale in 

 proportion to the degree of merit, displayed in that kill, 

 which may be of no value. 



/. The Trip.— One point. 



definition of points, 



a. In estimating the value of speed to the hare, the judge 

 must take into account the several forms in which it may be 

 displayed, viz.: 



I. Where in the run up a clear lead is gained by one of 

 the dogs, iu which case one, two or three poiucs may be given, 

 according to the length of the lead apart from the score for 

 a turn or wrench. In awarding these points, the Judge 

 shall take into consideration the merit or a lead obtained by 

 a dog which has lost ground at the start, either from being 

 unsighted or from a bad slip, or which has had to run the 

 outer circle. 



II. When one greyhound leads the other so long as the 

 hare runs straight, but loses the lead from her bending 

 round decidedly in favor of the slower dog of her own accord 

 m which case, the one greyhound shall score one point for 

 speed shown, and the other dog shall score one for first turn. 



III. Under no circumstances is speed without subsequent 

 work to be allowed to decide a course, except where great 

 superiority is shown by one greyhound over another in a 

 long lead to covert. 



If a dog, after gaining the first six points, still keeps pos- 

 session of the hare by superior speed, he shall have double 

 the prescribed allowance for the subsequent points made 

 before his opponent begins to score, 



b. The Go-Bp is where one greyhound starts a clear 

 length behind his opponent, and yet passes him in a straight 

 run, aud gets a clear length before him. 



c The Turn is where the hare is brought round at not 

 less than a right angle from her previous line. 



d. The Wrench is where the hare is bent from her line 

 at less than a light angle; but where she only leaves berime 

 to suit herself, and not from the greyhound pressing her, 

 nothing is to he allowed. 



e. The Merit of a Kill must be estimated according to 

 whether a greyhound, by his own superior dash and skill, 

 bears the hare; whether he picks her up through any little 

 accidental circumstances favoring him; or whether she is 

 turned into his mouth, as it were, by the other greyhound. 



f. The Trip, or an unsuccessful effort to kill, is where 

 the hare is thrown off her legs, or where a greyhound 

 catches her but cannot hold her. 



15. The following allowances shall be made for accidents 

 to a greyhound during a course; but in every case they shall 

 only be deducted from the other dog's score: 



a. For Losing Ground, at the start, either from being 

 unsighted or from a bad slip, the Judge is to decide what 

 amount of allowance is to be made, on the principle that the 

 score of the foremost dog is not to begin until the second 

 has had an opportunity of joining in the course. 



b. Where a Hare bears very decidedly in disfavor of one 

 of the dogs after the first or subsequent turns, the. next 

 point shall not be scored by the dog which may be unduly 

 favored, or only half his point allowed, according to circum- 

 stances. No greyhound shall receive any allowance for a 

 fall, or any accident of any description whatever, with the 

 exception of being ridden over by the owner of the compet- 

 ing' greyhound or his servant (provided for by rule 25), or 

 when pressing the hare, in which case his opponent shall not 

 count the next point made. 



16. Penalties are as follows: 



a. Where a greyhound from his own defect refuses to 

 follow the hare at which he is slipped, he shall lose the 

 course. 



b. Where a Greyhound Wilf ully stands Still in a course, 

 or departs from directly pursuing the hare, no points subse- 

 quently made by him shall be scored; and if the points made 

 by him up to that time be just equal to those made by 

 his antagonist in the whole course, he shall thereby lose 

 the course; but where, one or both dogs stop with the hare 

 in view, through inability to coutinuc the course, it shall be 

 decided according to the number of points gained by each 

 dog during the whole course. 



c. If a dog refuses to Fence where the other fences, any 

 points subsequently made by him are not scored, but if he 

 does his best to fence, and is foiled by sticking in a hedge, 

 the course shall end there. When the points are equal the 

 superior fencer shall win the course. 



17. If a Second Hare be started during course, and one 

 of the dogs follow her. the course shall end there. 



18. A ''No Course'' is when, by accident or by the short- 

 ness of the course, the dogs are not tried together, and if one 

 be then drawn the other must run a bye, unless the Judge, 

 on being appealed to, shall decide that he has done work 

 enough to be exempted from it. An undecided course is 

 where the Judge considers the merits of the dogs equal, and 

 if either is then drawn, the other cannot be required to run 

 a bye, but the owners must at the time declare which dog 

 remains in. (See rule 21.) The Judge shall signifv the dis- 

 tinction between a "no course" and an "undecided'' bv tak- 

 ing off his bat in the latter case only. After an "undecided'' 

 or "nd course," if the dogs, before being taken up, get on 

 another or the same hare, the Judge must follow, and shall 

 decide in favor of one, if he considers that there has been a 

 sufficient trial to justify his doing so. A "no course" or 

 "undecided" may be run again immediately, or, if claimed 

 on behalf of both dogs, before the next brace are put into 

 the slips, or, in case of "no course," if so ordered by the 

 Judge, otherwise it shall be run again after the two next 

 courses, unless it stand over to the next morning, when it 

 shall be the first course run; if it is the last course of the 

 day, fifteen minutes shall be allowed after both dogs are 

 taken up. 



19. Impugning Judge.— If any person openly impugns 

 the decision of the Judge on the ground, he shall forfeit not 

 more than $25 nor less than §10. 



20. Objections.— An objection to a greyhound may be 

 made to any one of the Stewards of a meeting at any time 

 before the stakes are paid over, upon the objector placing in 

 the hands of such Steward, or the Secretary, the Sum of $25, 

 which shall be forfeited if the objection proves frivolous, or 

 if he shall not bring the case before the next meeting of the 

 Eastern Coursing Club, or give notice to the Stewards pre- 

 vious thereto of his intention to withdraw his objection. 

 The owner of the greyhound objected to must a lso deposit $25, 

 and prove the correctness of his entry. All expenses in con- 

 sequence of the objection shall be bome by the party against 

 whoria the decision may be given. Should an objection be 

 made which cannot at the time be substantiated or dis- 

 proved, the greyhound m<y be allowed to run under protest, 

 the Stewards retaining his winnings until the objection 

 has been withdrawn, or heard and decided. If the grey- 

 hound objected to be disqualified, the amount to which he 

 would otherwise have been entitled shall be di vided equally 

 among the dogs beaten by him; and if a piece of plate or 

 prize has been added and won by hitn, only the dogs which 

 he beat in the several rounds shall have a right to contend 

 for it. 



21. Withdrawal of a Dog.— If a dog be withdrawn 

 from any stake on the field, its owuer, or some one having 

 his authority, must at once give notice to the secretary or 

 Flag Steward. If the dog belongs to either of these officials, 

 the notice must be given to the other. 



22. Stakes Not Run Out.— When two greyhounds re- 

 main in for the deciding course, the stakes shall be consid- 

 ered divided if they belong to the same owner or to confeder- 

 ates, and also if the owner of one of the two dogs induces 

 the owner of the other to draw him for any payment or 

 consideration; but if one of the two be drawn without pay- 

 ment or consideration from lameness, or from any cause 

 clearly affecting his chance of winning, the other may be 

 declared the winner, the facts of the case being clearly 

 proved to the satisfaction of the Stewards. The same rule 

 shall appiy when more than two dogs remain in at the end 

 of a stake which is not run out; and, iu case of a division 

 between three or more dogs, of which two or more belong to 

 the same owner, these shall be held to take equal shares of 

 the total amount received by their owners in the division. 

 The terms of any arrangements to divide the winnings, and 

 the amount of any money given to induce the owner of a 

 dog to draw him, must be declared by the Secretary. 



23. Winners of Stakes Running Together.— If two 

 grevhounds shall each win in a stake, and have to run to- 

 gether for a final prize or challenge cup, should they not 

 have run an equal uuinber of ties in their respective stakes, 

 the greyhouud which has run the smaller number of courses 

 must run a bye, or byes, to put itself upon an equality in 

 this respect with its opponent. 



24. Greyhound Getting Loose. — Any person allowing a 

 greyhound to get loose, and to join in a course which is be- 

 ing run, shall be fined $5. If the loose greyhound belong to 



either of the owners of the dogs engaged in the particular 

 course, such owner shall forfeit his chance of the stake with 

 the dog then running, unless he can prove to the satisfaction 

 of the Stewards that he had not been able to get the loose 

 greyhound taken up after running its own course. The 

 course, is not to be considered as necessarily ended when a 

 third dog joins in. 



25. Riding Over a Greyhound.— If any subscriber, or 

 his servant, shall ride over his opponent's greyhound while 

 running in a course, the owners of the dog so ridden over 

 shall (although the course be given against him) be deemed 

 the winner of it, or shall have the option of allowing the 

 other dog to remain and to run out the stake, and in such 

 case shall be entitled to half the winnings if any. 



26. Description of Entry.— Every subscriber to a stake 

 must name his dog at or before the entry, giving the name 

 (the running names if they had any) of the sire and dam of 

 the dog entered. For Puppy Stakes the names, pedigrees, 

 ages and colors, shall be detailed in writing to the secretary 

 of a meeting at the time of the entry. No greyhound is to 

 be considered a puppy which was whelped before the first of 

 January of the same year preceding the commencement of 

 the season of running. A sapling is a greyhound whelped 

 on or after the first of January of the same year in which 

 the season of running commenced; and any greyhound 

 whose marks and pedigree shall be proved nottocorresDond 

 with the entry given, shall be disqualified, and the whole of 

 its stakes or winnings forfeited. 



27. Breeding Pups.— Every rnemberof the club breeding 

 pups shall notify the Secretary in writiog, within ten clays 

 after the birth of any pups, of the number of clogs and 

 bitches, colors, and other distinguishing marks, date of 

 birth, and the name of sire and dam. Any member violat- 

 ing this rule will not be allowed to enter or run any of such 

 pups in a Puppy or Sapling Stake. 



28. Alteration of Name.— If any subscriber should 

 enter a greyhound by a different name from that in which 

 it shall have last ruain public, he shall give notice of the 

 alteration to the Secretary at the time of entry, and the 

 Secretary shall place on the card both the late and present 

 name of the dog. If notice of the alteration be not given, 

 the dog shall be disqualified. 



29. Prefix of "Ns."— Any subscriber taking an entry in 

 a stake, and not prefixing the. word "names" (Ns) to a grey- 

 hound which is not his own property, shall forfeit that, 

 greyhound's chance of the stake. He shall, likewise, if re- 

 quested, deliver in writing to the Secretary of the meeting 

 the name of the bona, fide owner of the greyhound named 

 by him; and this communication is to be produced should 

 any dispute arise, in the matter. 



30. PAYMENT OF Stakes.— All moneys due for nomina- 

 tions taken must be paid at or before the entry, whether 

 the stakes fill or not, aud although from insufficient descrip- 

 tion or any other cause, the dogs named may be disqualified. 

 No entry shall be valid, unless the amount due for it has 

 been paid ia full. For all produce and other stakes where a 

 forfeit is payable, no declaration is necessary; the non-pay- 

 ment of the remainder of the entry money at the time fixed 

 for that purpose is to be considered a declaration of forfeit. 

 The Secretary is to be responsible for the entry money of all 

 dogs whose names appear upon the card. 



31. Defaulters.— No one shall be allowed to enter or 

 run a greyhound in his own or any other person's name, 

 who is a defaulter for either stakes, bets, dues or fines. 



32. Judge or Slipper Interested.— If a Judge or Slip- 

 per be in any way interested in a greyhound running, the 

 Stewards shall appoint others to judge or slip any course 

 which that greyhound may run, 



33. Any person who is proved to the satisfaction of the 

 Eastern Coursing Club, to have been guilty of any fraud- 

 ulent or discreditable conduct in connection with coursing, 

 may, in addition to any pecuniary penalty to which he may 

 be liable, be declared incapable to run or enter a greyhound 

 in his own or any other person's name during any subse- 

 quent period that the club may decide upon. 



THE MUZZLE IN ENGLAND. 



THE muzzling order in Kuglaud is commented upon as 

 follows by ' Ouida" in the Times of Oct. 9: "If one 

 desire to measure the change which has taken place in Eng- 

 lish manhood, and its decay from courage to cowardice, 

 old volumes of Parliamentary history offer indisputable 

 evidence of the melancholy fact. In regard merely to the 

 view which Englishmen take of Taxations bye-laws and of 

 petty legal interference, it is worth while to study 'nan- 

 sard' of the present and the past. In one matter alone, turn 

 to the Parliamentary record of the first attempt made under 

 Mr Pitt's administration to put a half-crown tax upon dogs, 

 in Vol. XXXII. of 'Parliamentary History.' Such a sug- 

 gestion, emanating from a Mr. Dent, and feebly supported 

 by the Ministry, was received with Homeric laughter by the 

 House. 'One might imagine,' cried Mr. Windham, 'that 

 Actseon had revived' What would the gallant soul of 

 Windham feel now at seeing a Privy Council treat these 

 animals as if they were some uoxious vermin, and ignore 

 all rights of property in them possessed by their owners? 

 You have no more right to compel a man to muzzle 

 his dog than you have to compel him to ride or drive 

 his horse with a curb, which he considers vexatious 

 or injurious. You have no right to make a mau 

 pay a tax for a property, and then force him to employ 

 methods which ruin the object taxed. The muzzle ruins 

 dogs. It renders them timid aud apprehensive, joyless 

 and fierce; they hate it and the sensation of it on 

 their faces is most injurious to their nerves and tempers. 

 It is difficult to believe that the Lords of the Privy Council 

 can have considered what they did; it looks as if they had 

 carelessly put their signatures to an order which they did 

 not trouole themselves to read. Many among them must 

 know, as every owner of dogs knows, that there are many 

 dogs whom it is impossible to muzzle, and none whose tem- 

 per and courage are not ruined by it. To small dogs it is a 

 barbarous cruelty, as their tiny noses offer no resting place 

 for the noxious appendage; while to large and small the in- 

 fliction of the muzzle is, I repeat, most injurious to beauty, 

 to character, and to sight; whoever has worn, voluntarily, a 

 loup at a masked ball knows its distressing effect on the 

 vision, and can imagine what torture it would be to wear 

 one in metal or leather every day. The obligation to lead 

 your dogs is nuisance enough, but it does not injure the 

 dogs as muzzling injures them, and to small dogs it is 

 scarcely a hardship. But the muzzle is more than a hard- 

 ship; it is a grave injury, and when the State puts its hand 

 in the pocket of the dog owner for a tax the State is bound 

 to allow the person taxed the exercise of his own judgment 

 in the proper keeping of his dogs. I have repeatedly said in 

 your columns that while those accursed institutions, dog 

 shows, and those haunts of filth and misery, dog fanciers' cel- 

 lars and yards, are left untouched by the law, it is ridiculous 

 and odious to see ladies fined because their Maltese or York- 

 shire terrierruns loose in the square, and gentlemen menaced 

 with prison because they resist the brutalities of the police to 

 their collie or their deerhound. I have considerable knowl- 

 edge and experience of dogs, and I declare again that many 

 dogs it is altogether impossible to muzzle, and that to 

 all it is most injurious, alike physically and morally. 

 The dog is a merry-spirited, animated creature, made by 

 Nature for play, sport, fuu and movement; the more he is 

 throttled, menaced, worried and tormented, the more his 

 health and his disposition must suffer. I hope, for the credit 

 of the English nation in general and the Privy Council in 

 particular, that this tyranny will soon be ended, and the 

 legislation upon dogs be turned in the right direction—/,, e 



