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COURSING (from See also: game by See also: dogs solely by sight and not by See also: scent
.
From See also: time to time the sport has been pursued by various nations against various animals, but the recognized method has generally been the coursing of the See also: hare by greyhounds
.
Such sport is of See also: great antiquity, and is fully described by See also: Arrian in his Cynegeticus about A.D
.
150, when the leading features appear to have been much the same as in the See also: present See also: day
.
Other See also: Greek and Latin authors refer to the sport; but during the See also: middle ages it was but little heard of
.
Apart from private coursing for the See also: sake of filling the pot with game, public coursing has become an exhilarating sport
.
The private sportsman seldom possesses See also: good strains of See also: blood to breed his greyhounds from or has such opportunities of trying them as the public courser
.
The first known set of rules in See also: England for determining the merits of a course were See also: drawn up by See also: Thomas, duke of
See also: Norfolk, in See also: Queen See also: Elizabeth's reign; but no open trials were heard of until
See also: half a century later, in the time of See also: Charles I
.
The
See also: oldest See also: regular coursing See also: club of which any record exists is that of See also: Swaffham, in Norfolk, which was founded by See also: Lord See also: Orford in '766 ; and in '78o the Ashdown See also: Park (See also: Berkshire) meeting was established
.
During the next seventy years many other large and influential See also: societies sprang up throughout England and Scotland, the Altcar Club (on the Sefton estates, near Liverpool) being founded in 1825
.
The season lasts about six months, beginning in the middle of See also: September
.
It was not until 1858 that a coursing parliament, so to speak, was formed, and a universally accepted See also: code of rules drawn up
.
In that See also: year the See also: National Coursing Club was founded
.
It is composed of representatives from all clubs in the See also: United See also: Kingdom of more than a year's See also: standing, and possessing more than twenty-four members
.
Their rules govern meetings, and their committee adjudicate on matters of dispute
.
The breeding and training of a successful See also: kennel is a See also: precarious See also: matter; and the most unaccountable ups and See also: downs of See also: fortune often occur in a courser's career
.
At a meeting an agreed-on even number of entries are made for each stake, and the ties drawn by See also: lot
.
After the first round the winner of the first tie is opposed to the winner of the second, and so on until the last two dogs See also: left in compete for victory; but the same owner's See also: grey-hounds are " guarded " as far as it is possible to do so
.
A staff of beaters drive the See also: hares out of their coverts or other hiding-places, whilst the slipper has the pair of dogs in See also: hand, and slips them simultaneously by an arrangement of nooses, when they have both sighted a hare promising a good course
.
The See also: judge accompanies on horseback, and the six points whereby he decides a course are-(r) See also: speed; (2) the go-by, or when a greyhound starts a clear length behind his opponent, passes him in the straight run, and gets a clear length in front; (3) the turn; where the hare turns at not less than a right angle; (4) the wrench, where the hare turns at less than a right angle; (5) the kill; (6) the trip, or unsuccessful effort to kill
.
He may return a " no course " as his verdict if the dogs have not been fairly tried together, or an " undecided course " if he considers their merits equal
.
The open See also: Waterloo meeting, held at Altcar every spring, —the name being taken from its being originated by the proprietor of the Waterloo Hotel, Liverpool,—is now the recognized fixture for the decision of the coursing championship, and the Waterloo Cup (1836) is the " Blue Riband " of the leash
.
In the United States, several See also: British colonies, and other countries, the name has been adopted, and Waterloo Coursing Cups are found there as in England
.
In See also: America an See also: American Coursing See also: Board controls the sport, the chief meetings being in See also: North and See also: South Dakota, Kansas, See also: Nebraska, See also: Iowa and See also: Minnesota
.
The chief See also: works on coursing are :—Arrian's Cynegeticus, translated by the Rev
.
W
.
Dansey (1831); T
.
Thacker, Courser's Companion and Breeder's Guide(' 835) ; Thacker's Courser's See also: Annual See also: Remembrancer (1849-1851); D
.
P
.
See also: Blaine, See also: Encyclopaedia of Rural See also: Sports (3rd ed., '87o); and J
.
H
.
See also: Walsh, The Greyhound (3rd ed., 1875)
.
See also the Coursing See also: Calendar (since '857); Coursing and Falconry (See also: Badminton Library, 1892) ; The Hare (" Fur and Feather " series, 1896) ; and The Greyhound See also: Stud See also: Book (since 1882)
.
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