Coursing is the pursuit of
game or other animals by
dogs—chiefly
greyhounds and other
sighthounds—catching their prey by speed, running by sight, but not by scent. Coursing was a common hunting technique, practised by the nobility, the landed and wealthy, and commoners with sighthounds and
lurchers. In its oldest recorded form in the
Western world, as described by
Arrian, the sport was practised by all levels of society, as remained the case until
Carolingian forest law appropriated hunting grounds, or commons, for the king, the nobility, and other land owners.