[Sidenote: +Chap. XIII.+]
[Sidenote: Feeding in winter and summer.]
In the winter season feed your dogs only once a day,[129] a little before evening; for the days are short, and the greyhounds are to be so managed, that if you need their services for coursing till a late hour, they may be able to bear the necessary fasting. But in summer it is right to give them a little bread in addition,[130] that they may not be exhausted by the length of the day; and if thirsty, they will drink with less detriment after having eaten. To thrust down a dog’s throat a piece of salted suet is also found beneficial.[131] But if the weather be very hot, I would have you take an egg in your hand, open your dog’s mouth, and push it down, that he may swallow it at one gulp. This will be nourishment enough for him, will cherish his wind, and quench his thirst.[132]
[Sidenote: +Chap. XIV.+]
[Sidenote: Seasons of Coursing.]
You may go out coursing frequently in spring and autumn,[133] these seasons being attended with the least risk to your dogs—but rarely in summer,[134] lying by, generally,[135] when the heat is oppressive. For greyhounds are impatient of heat, and often, when pursuing a hare with all their might, have been suffocated from a stoppage of their wind.[136] To guard against which, a courser should carry eggs with him, and administer them entire, if his hound’s breathing be exceedingly distressed. For there is no better refrigerative, nothing that appeases difficulty of breathing so much. It is not unattended with danger for a dog, under these circumstances of distress, to drink immoderately.
For the reasons given, then, be cautious of coursing in hot weather. Never go out in winter when the cold is severe, and, on no account, when the ground is frozen hard. For dogs bruise themselves in frost,[137] lose their nails,[138] lacerate the soles of their feet, and if very high-couraged, break even the bones of their toes against the frozen ground from running with excessive eagerness. Whereas the hare is light, with woolly and soft feet,[139] and trips along without injury in frost.
[Sidenote: +Chap. XV.+[140]]
[Sidenote: Slipping law.]
Whoever courses with greyhounds[141] should neither slip them near the hare, nor more than a brace at a time;[142] for though the hare be remarkably swift-footed, and have often beaten many dogs, yet being just started from her form, she cannot but be fluttered at heart, and terrified at the hallooing, and the hounds pressing close upon her:—and in this way, many a noble hare has often ignobly perished without an effort, showing no diversion worth mentioning.
Let the hare, therefore, creep away from her form as if unperceived, and recover her presence of mind. And then, if she be a racer,[143] she will prick up her ears, and bound away from her seat with long strides; and the greyhounds, having capered about as if they were dancing,[144] will stretch out at full speed after her. And at this time is the spectacle worthy indeed of the pains that must necessarily be bestowed on these dogs.[145]
[Sidenote: +Chap. XVI.+]
[Sidenote: Hares.]
Those are the strongest hares which have their forms in open and exposed places;[146] for, from boldness, they do not conceal themselves, but seem to me to challenge the dogs. When coursed, they do not fly to the woods or groves, however near, for immediate liberation from danger, but stretch away to the open country;[147] and during the contest, if they are pursued by slow hounds, they moderate their own speed according as they are pressed; but if their pursuers are fast, they run with all their might.[148]
Often when they have turned aside to the champaign country, if they perceive a fleet dog following so close as to overshadow them, they throw him off by frequent ricks and turns, and again make for the woods, or wherever they know of a place of refuge; and this should be deemed a proof that the dog has beaten the hare. For coursers, such at least as are true sportsmen, do not take their dogs out for the sake of catching a hare, but for the contest and sport of coursing;[149] and are glad if the hare meet with an escape: if she fly to any thin brake for concealment, though they may see her trembling and in the utmost distress, they will call off their dogs,[150] and more particularly so, when they have run well.[151]
Often, indeed, when following a course on horseback, have I come up to the hare as soon as caught, and myself saved her alive: and then, having taken away my dog, and fastened him up, allowed her to escape.[152] And if I have arrived too late to save her, I have struck my head with sorrow, that the dogs had killed so good an antagonist.[153]
On this point alone I cannot agree with my namesake. I allow indeed that a man may forget every other object of which he is enamoured, when he sees a hare found, and pursued at speed;[154] but to see her taken is, I own, neither a pleasant nor striking spectacle; but disagreeable rather, and not at all likely to make us forgetful of other objects of attachment.[155] And yet we must not blame Xenophon, considering he was ignorant of greyhounds, if even the capture of a hare appeared to him a grand sight.
I am aware, (even if my instructions were opposed to it), how strong the inducement is to halloo, when following a course, and that even a dumb man might break forth, as is related of the son of Crœsus.[156]
[Sidenote: +Chap. XVII.+]
[Sidenote: Cheering greyhounds.]
It is proper sometimes to speak to the greyhounds; for they are pleased at hearing their master’s voice,[157] and have the consciousness of his presence, and of their brilliant running not escaping his notice, as an encouragement and reward for their exertions.
There is no objection to your cheering your hound as often as you like in his first course; but in his second or third, when it is probable that he is fagged, I think it wrong to cheer him very often by name, lest from his ardour, and desire of pleasing his master, he exert himself beyond his strength, and suffer some inward rupture; an accident which has been fatal to many a high-bred greyhound. But he should be allowed to slacken his running as he chooses. For the contest is by no means equal between the hare and greyhound:[158] the hare runs where she likes, and the dog pursues; she shifts her course,[159] throws him off, and darts forward; and if thrown out, the dog is wide of the hare, and must again stretch away after her a-head, and recover what he has lost of the course by overshooting himself.[160]
Moreover, the natural difficulties of the country are more in favour of the hare, than the dog—such as rough and stony grounds,[161] steeps and inequalities of surface—both because she is light, and because her feet, from their woolliness, are not liable to be lacerated by the roughness of the ground;[162] and the running for her life, too, takes away all sense of difficulties.
[Sidenote: +Chap. XVIII.+]
[Sidenote: Praising, &c.]
When the greyhound has caught the hare, or been otherwise victorious in the course,[163] you should dismount from your horse, pat him with your hand and praise him, kissing his head, and stroking his ears, and speaking to him by name—“Well done, Cirras!”[164]—“Well done, Bonnas!”[165]—“Bravo, my Hormé!”[166]—calling each hound by his name; for, like men of generous spirit, they love to be praised:[167] and the dog, if not quite tired out, will come up with joy to caress you. At this time, it is a good sign for him to roll himself on the ground, as we see horses do;[168] for it shows that he is not done up with the course, and, at the same time, rolling refreshes him.
[Sidenote: +Chap. XIX.+[169]]
[Sidenote: Celtic mode of coursing with hare-finders.]
The more opulent Celts,[170] who live in luxury, course in the following manner. They send out hare-finders[171] early in the morning to look over such places as are likely to afford hares in form;[172] and a messenger brings word if they have found any, and what number. They then go out themselves, and having started the hare, slip the dogs after her, and follow on horseback.[173]
[Sidenote: +Chap. XX.+]
[Sidenote: Without hare-finders.]
But others, who have no hare-finders, go out on horseback, collecting a large party of fellow-sportsmen together; and coming to likely lying-ground, when a hare is started, they slip their dogs. While others again, who are more of workmen at the sport, sally forth on foot;[174] and if any one accompanies them on horseback, it is his duty to keep up with the dogs.
[Sidenote: Beating the ground.]
They beat the ground in regular array, with an extended front, proceeding in a straight line to the completion of a certain extent of country; and then, wheeling about in a body, return in the same way by the side of their former track, omitting as far as possible none of the likely lying.[175]
[Sidenote: Steward.]
But it is necessary, if many dogs are taken into the field, that they should not be left at random, and without arrangement. For when the hare is started from her form, not a man would refrain from slipping his hound after her: one from eagerness to see his own dog run, and another from being startled and beside himself at the hallooing; and the hare would be caught, in consequence of the crowd and confusion of the dogs, without a struggle, and the whole value of the spectacle destroyed. On which account a steward should be appointed over the sport,[176] should match the dogs, and give orders to the field:—if the hare start on this side, _you_ and _you_ are to slip, and nobody else; but if on that side, _you_ and _you_: and let strict attention be paid to the orders given.[177]