HUNTING THE HARE. As of all chases the hare makes the greatest pastime, so it gives no little pleasure to see the craft of this small animal for her self-preservation. If it be rainy, the hare usually takes to the highways; and if she comes to the side of a young grove, or spring, she seldom enters, but squats down till the hounds have overshot her; and then she will return the way she came, for fear of the wet and dew that hangs on the boughs. In this case the huntsman ought to stay one hun

fond of honey and other sweets. It rock, or pile round the trunks of
changes its colour in September, trees. By this means, these indus-
and resumes its gray livery in April; trious animals lay up a store of
and it is extraordinary, that although winter food, and wisely provide
this animal be brought into a house, against the rigour of those stormy
and even kept in warm apartments, regions; otherwise, being prevented
yet still the colour changes at the by the snow from quitting their re-
same periods that it does among its treats, in quest of food, they must
native mountains. In some parts of all inevitably perish.
Siberia, herds of five or six hundred
may be seen migrating in spring
and returning in autumn. The Al-
pine hare at Hudson's Bay has one
peculiarity, that, after coupling in
the spring, many have been killed
with the male part of generation
hanging out and shrivelled up like
the navel-string of young animals;
but yet, upon examination, there
was always found a passage for the
urine. These hares delight most in
rocky and stony places, near the
borders of woods, though many of
them brave the coldest winters in
the most unsheltered situations.-dred paces before he comes to the
They are, when full grown and in
good condition, very large, many of
them weighing fourteen or fifteen
pounds, and are said to be good eat-
ing. In winter they feed on long
rye-grass and the tops of dwarf-
willows; but in summer on berries
and different sorts of small herbage.
In the mountains of Tartary, which
extend as far as the Lake Baikal, a
variety of the Alpine hare is to be
met with. These inhabit the mid-
dle region of the hills, among thick
woods, and in moist places abounding
with grass and herbage. They some-
times burrow between the rocks, but
more frequently lodge in the cre-
vices. They are generally found in
pairs, but congregate in bad wea-
ther. In the autumn, by that won-
derful instinct which Providence
has bestowed upon many classes of
his creatures, great numbers of them
assemble, and collect vast quantities
of the finest herbs, which, when
dried, they form into pointed ricks
of various sizes, some of them four
or five feet in height and of propor-
tionable bulk. These they place
under the shelter of an overhanging

wood side, by which means he will
perceive whether she return; if
she do, he must halloo in his hounds,
and call them back.
The next
thing to be observed is the place
where the hare sits, and upon what
wind she makes her form, either
upon the north or south wind: she
will not willingly run into the wind,
but upon a side, or down the wind;
but if she form in the water, have
a special regard to the brook sides;
for there and near plashes, she will
make all her crossings, doublings,
&c. Some hares are so crafty that
as soon as they hear the sound of
a horn they instantly start out of
their form, though it were at the
distance of a quarter of a mile,
make for some pool through which
they swim and rest upon a rush bed
in the midst of it.
stir thence till they hear the sound
of the horn, and then they start
out again, swim to land, and stand-
up before the hounds for hours be-
fore they can kill them, swimming
and using all subtleties and cross-
ings in the water. Nay, such is the
subtlety of a hare, that sometimes,

Such will not

her use, and the place where you hunt, you must make your compasses great or small, long or short, to help the defaults, always seeking a moist and commodious place for the hounds to scent in.

HARNESS. All the accoutrements of an armed horseman; also the various trappings, furniture, collars, &c. fitted to horses or other beasts for drawing.

HARNESS-GALLS. These may be considered as bruises, and when it can be done should be poulticed until the swelling has been dispersed or has suppurated.

HARRIER. Another of the hunting dogs, closely allied to the beagle, and like that kind comprehending several varieties. This is larger than the beagle, more nimble,

after she has been hunted three hours, she will start a fresh hare, and squat in the same form. Others, after being hunted a considerable time, will creep under the door of a sheep-cot and hide themselves among the sheep; or, when they have been hard hunted, will run in among a flock of sheep, and will by no means be gotten out till the hounds are coupled up, and the sheep driven into their pens. Some will go up one side of the hedge and come down the other, the thickness of the hedge being the only distance between the coursers. A hare that has been hard pressed, has got upon a quickset hedge, and ran a good way upon the top, and then leaped off upon the ground; and they frequently betake themselves to furze bushes, and leap from one to the other, whereby the hounds are frequently in default. In winter, they seat in tufts of thorns and brambles, especially when the wind is northerly or southerly. According to the season and nature of the place where the hare is accustomed to seat, there beat with your hounds, and start her; which is better sport than trailing her from her relief to her form. After the hare has been started, and is on foot, step in where you saw her pass, and halloo in your hounds, until they have all undertaken it and go on with it in full cry, then recheat to them with your horn, following fair and softly at first, not making too much noise either with horn or voice, for at the first hounds are apt to overshooting the otter. the chase through too much heat. But when they have run an hour, and you see the hounds are well in, and stick well, then you may come in nearer with them because their heat will then be cooled, and they will hunt more soberly. But above all things mark the first doubling, which must be your direction for the whole day; for all the doublings that she will make afterwards will be like the former; and according to the policies that you shall see

and better adapted to endure the labour of the chase. In the pursuit of the hare it evinces the warmest ardour, and frequently outstrips the speed of the fleetest sportsman. A hybrid breed between this and the terrier, is sometimes kept for hunt

HART. See RED DEER.

HART ROYAL. Antiently, in the days of forest law, when the king lost a stag, proclamation was made that no person should chase or kill him, and which on his return was styled a hart royal proclaimed. A Dorsetshire baron having destroyed a white hart under these circumstances in the reign of Henry III. a heavy fine was laid on his lands, which was paid into the exchequer as lately as the reign of Eli

of the highest trees, and sometimes | ever paid forfeit, and was unqueson cliffs overhanging the sea, in tionably the best horse of his time which the female deposits four large in the kingdom. eggs of a pale green colour. Their Owing to an error in the Index depredations are committed in soli- to the Racing Calendar for 1777, tude and silence; but in the spring wherein Highflyer is confounded the heron becomes gregarious, and, with a colt of the same year, also like the rook, fearlessly approaches the property of Lord Bolingbroke, the habitations of man, building its got by Herod out of Marotte, some nest in company with a number of persons have been led to deny this its kind. When the young are position. In the enumeration of excluded, the old ones are constantly" Races to come," First October upon the wing to provide them with Meeting 1777, as printed in the food. It must be conceded, how-volumes for 1775, page 246; and ever, that, in wild and marshy districts, great numbers form their nests, and rear their young on the ground, among reeds, &c. Mr. Daniel says, "I have taken both the eggs and young herons from the very numerous nests formed among the reeds by the side of the fleets belonging to Mr. Bennet, at Tollesbury in Essex."

HIDE BOUND. When a horse's hide or skin sticks to his ribs, as it were, and cannot be drawn out or moved, as in the healthy state, he is said to be hide-bound. It indicates great weakness and poverty, and sometimes a diseased state of the mesenteric vessels, and consumption. It is generally occasioned by ill usage, and bad or insufficient food, and can only be removed by proper feeding and good treatment. A good piece of grass is the best remedy, especially in the early part of summer.

HIGHFLYER. This sire of a noble race was foaled in 1774; bred by Sir Charles Bunbury, and by him sold, when a yearling, to Lord Bolingbroke; was got by King Herod, out of Rachel (the dam of Mark Anthony), by Blank; grandam by Regulus; great grandam (dam of Danby Cade, Matchless, and South), by Soreheels (a son of Basto); great great grandam, Sir Ralph Milbanke's famous black mare (the dam of Hartley's blind horse), by Makeless, out of a D'Arcy Royal mare.

Highflyer was never beat, nor

1776, page 258, mention is made of a sweepstakes of 300 gs. each, h. ft. by three-year-olds; colts 3st. 71b.; fillies, 8st. 4lb. Ditch-in; for which the entry stands, "Lord Bolingbroke's c. by Herod, out of Sir J. Moore's Marotte." Stronger proof, surely, cannot be required, even by those who originally raised the doubt. Farther, to save the reader trouble, he can refer to the first volume of the Stud Book, p. 156, Highflyer; and p. 379, b. c. by Herod, out of Marotte.

This first-rater never started after he was five years old, yet his winnings and forfeits received amounted to 8920 gs. In 1780 he covered at Ely for 15 gs., and remained at that price till 1788; the following season he was advanced to 25 gs.; 1790 and 1791, the fee was 30 gs.; 1792," this certain foal-getting horse" was advertised at 50 gs.; and for the season of 1793, at the reduced sum of 30 gs. for each mare; on the 18th of October, however, of which year, this superior stallion and unconquered racer died, aged nineteen.

HIMANTOPUS, or STILT PLO-
See PLOVER.

VER.

HIND. The female of the red deer, so called in the third year of her age; in her second she is a hearse, in her first a calf.

HOBBY (Falco subbuteo). A hawk of the lure, not of the fist. The back of this bird is brown; the nape of the neck white; and the belly pale, with oblong brown spots.