22 
NATURE NOTES. 
‘ twenty-five yards law ’ peg, and at a given signal let go the rabbit. Ashe did so 
the dogs were loosed. . . . The wretched rabbit, unable in most instances to do 
little more than crawl, was quickly seized by the dogs. In every case one dog had 
hold of the hind quarters of the rabbit, the other the fore part. They raced round 
the ground in this fashion, pulling and tugging at the unfortunate creature, and 
all the while bets, oaths, hideous laughter, and clapping of hands from the crowd 
filled the air. Mingled with it all the piteous cries of the poor rabbits rose now 
and then above the hellish din. . . . One rabbit did manage to run the 
gauntlet of the cowardly mob, and jumped into the river Tyne. . . . Bravely 
did the poor little creature attempt to gain the opposite shore, but stones were 
hurled at it, and being exhausted, it was swept into an eddy and brought ashore, 
too weak and too little life in it to even move. At my entreaty its misery 
was terminated.” 
This is very horrible, and Selbornians tvill agree with Col. 
Coulson that “ effort must again and again be made to induce the 
Home Secretary to pass a Bill making such fearful barbarisms 
offences against the law. Till this be done we have no right to 
call ourselves a civilised or a righteous people.” 
But there is another aspect of the question, which must not 
be overlooked. ]tlr. Waugh has pointed out that in some of the 
worst cases which come under the notice of the Society for the 
Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the criminals are not of what 
are called “ the lower classes,” but occup}' a respectable position 
in society. Col. Coulson says that one man asked him “ was it 
worse than ‘ throwing a fox to the hounds ? ’ It is not to the 
credit of dukes, lords, gentlemen, and, alas ! ladies, that their 
amusements should be classed with such low, cruel blackguard- 
ism, but, to my sorrow, I had to acknowledge that it was not 
worse.” 
Is not the example set by the so-called “ upper classes ” to a 
great extent responsible for these e.xhibitions of brutality among 
working men ? Who were the patrons of pigeon-shooting at 
Hurlingham ? In the preceding number of The Animal's Guardian, 
the Colonel, who is fully alive to this aspect of the case, gives an 
account of “ otter worrying,” in the same county as that in which 
the rabbit-coursing took place. 
‘ ‘ During the past summer a gentleman, who evidently finds an immense pleasure 
in taking the lives of otters, brought his hounds into the county of Northumber- 
land, and according to his wont, hunted the beautiful river Coquet for his selected 
victims. lie was not disappointed. The prey was found, and for six consecutive 
hours did he, in the presence of a large assemblage of gentlemen, and, sad to relate, 
ladies, hunt one unfortunate otter. At last the wretched creature was worried to 
death. When the ‘ gallant master,’ as he was called in a local paper (it is 
difficult to conceive where the gallant comes in), went to pick up the worried 
otter he was loudly cheered. . . . What an example this for the ‘ lower orders,’ as 
the rich too often contemptuously call the poor ; what a slur upon our supposed 
advance in civilisation, refinement, and humanity ; what a parody on our culture 
and religion. Here were a number of our educated classes calmly watching and 
enjoying for hours the struggles and agony of a defenceless creature. There was 
no need for their presence, they had come because they were idlers, and had the 
instinct of cruelty within them. They had nothing else to do and so they must 
take life. But what an example ! It is, I much fear, not from the so-called upper 
and educated classes that excellence in conduct can be learned. It is worse than 
a farce to speak of this country as one loving religion and aspiring to civilisation. 
Let us have no more canting nonsense about the working man not attending 
church, when we can point to ladies and gentlemen finding pleasure and recrea- 
tion in such a detestable fashion.’ 
