the warren, he lies squat, or steals out with the utmost
precaution, and on seeing or scenting the rabbits, darts upon them
with exceeding quickness or runs them down at a stretch, without
barking or making the least noise. He is trained to bring the booty to
his master, who often waits at some distance to receive it. One of
these dogs will kill a great many rabbits in the course of a night.
Col. Hamilton Smyth says, "The lurcher occasionally makes great havoc
among sheep and deer, and acquires the wild scent of game. Sometimes
these dogs become feral, when their owners happen to be captured and
imprisoned. They have been regularly hunted with hounds, but seldom
destroyed, because when the chase came up with them, the pack seemed
to be surprised at finding that it was only a dog they had followed.
At other times, however, when a lurcher had snapped up, or attacked
the game the pack was hunting, the dogs on coming up have torn him to
pieces, as if he had been a wild beast."

Bewick says that in his time this breed was so destructive that it was
proscribed, and is now almost extinct. "I have seen a dog and bitch of
this kind," he observes, "in the possession of a man who had formerly
used them for the purpose above described. He declared, that by their
means he could procure in an evening as many rabbits as he could carry
home."

"In the year 1809," says Capt. Brown, "I resided for some time on Holy
Island, coast of Northumberland, and had occasion one day to be in
Berwick at an early hour. I left the island on horseback at low-water,
by moonlight. When I reached Goswick-warren, I came upon two men
sitting by the side of a turf-dyke. I spoke to them; and while I was
in the act of doing so, a dog of this breed approached with a rabbit
in his mouth, which he laid down and scampered off. Being convinced
they were engaged in rabbit-stealing, I entered into conversation
respecting the qualities of their dogs, which I was anxious to learn;
and upon my declaring that I was a stranger, and that I would not
divulge their delinquency, they readily gave me a detail of them.
They had scarcely commenced when another dog made his appearance with
a rabbit, and laid it down, but did not, like his companion, make off
when he had done so. One of the men said to him, 'Go off, sir,' when
he immediately left them; and he told me he was a young dog, little
more than a year old. They informed me, that such was the keenness of
the older dog, a