nd another which had shortly before died, for hunting
rabbits and hares, that they would frequently go out of their own
accord, when it was inconvenient for their owners to attend them, and
that they invariably fetched in a hare or rabbit. Indeed, their ardour
was such, that they would sometimes go to a rabbit-warren, at a
distance of eight miles from their dwelling, in pursuit of game; in
consequence of which it became necessary for their masters to chain
them every night when they did not accompany them in this pursuit. The
dogs never attempted to leave home during the day, for which reason
they were allowed to go at full liberty. When the men intended on an
evening to hunt rabbits, they threw down the sacks in which they
carried their booty in a corner of their house, when the dogs lay down
beside them, and would not stir till their masters took them up. These
dogs scarcely ever barked, except on the way either to or from this
plunder; on which occasions they always preceded their owners about
fifty yards. If they met any person coming, they invariably made a
noise, but never were known to bite any one. I asked them if this was
an instinctive property, and they informed me they were trained to it.
As they found it necessary in various places to leave the highway to
avoid villages, their dogs never failed to quit the road at the very
places where they usually deviated, although at that distance before
them. Sometimes one of the dogs would return back to the party while
on the road, and wag his tail, but they seldom or never did so
together; and if he showed a desire to remain by his master, the
latter had only to say, 'Go on, sir,' when he set off at full speed to
his post as one of the advanced guard. During the time I was
conversing with them these dogs brought in seven rabbits."

The following curious relation, in which a lurcher signalised himself
characteristically but fatally, we had from a sporting clergyman of
one of the midland counties. A gentleman kept a pack of
five-and-twenty couple of good hounds, among which were some of the
highest-bred modern foxhounds, and some as near to the old bloodhound
as could be procured. They were high-fed and underworked; of course,
somewhat riotous. One day, after a sharp run of considerable length,
in which the whole field, huntsman, whipper-in, and all, were suddenly
thrown out, Reynard, in running up a hedgerow, was espied by a
lurcher, accompanying the farmer his master