Coursing

Coursing as now understood is the hunting of hares by a brace of greyhounds. The sport may be carried on in open country, which seems the truer kind of sport, or in an enclosed space, where, although the performance of the greyhounds may be easily judged, the quarry gets no chance of escape, and so the charge of unsportsmanlike practice may be urged as it is in the case of battue shooting. It is more particularly against this form of coursing that an outcry upon the score of cruelty has of late been raised. The judge at a coursing meeting has many points by which to decide the merits of the greyhound, the general principle being that not necessarily the dog that kills the hare is the winner, but the dog whose efforts most evidently lead to its being killed. The most noted meeting of the year is that in which the Waterloo Cup is competed for at Altcar in Lancashire. Open meetings often take place upon downs, though Plumpton, which is on the South Downs, has the doubtful honour of having inaugurated closed meetings. Kempton Park, and Wye, near Ashford, in Kent, have also noted meetings.