Page:The Hare.djvu/130

104 The lurcher, if well up to its business, will follow the hare at three-quarter speed, driving her towards the gate, towards which she will probably run of her own accord. Should she attempt to make for a smeuse in the fence, the dog with a dash will either turn her, or pick her up and bring her to his master at the gallop. If necessary, however, he will turn her again and again, and so drive her to the fatal gate, just as a clever collie will drive sheep. Once there, a rapid dash on the part of the dog entangles her in the net, and she is seized by the waiting poacher ere one single cry breaks the stillness of the night. The whole party is on the move again in a few seconds. The dog gets her wind in the bottom of the cart, and is ready again as soon as a fresh field is reached.

Should no hare be roused, the dog comes straight back to her master; and nothing more graceful or more neat can be imagined than the beautiful way in which my purchase would 'double' over a high gate, and bound straight into the cart, where she would go to ground under the straw and an old sack or two, so that it required a sharp examination to detect her.

There is only one way to defeat this system of poaching: it is to drive all the seed fields to the gates, having previously netted them, during the daytime; the hares, as soon as caught, are set free by men stationed