126 CATALOGUE OF THE MAMMALIA OF 
packs of hounds are, or were recently, maintained in the two 
counties, specially bred and trained for the purpose; and that 
of Mr. Gallon, of Bishop Auckland, is well known to all sports- 
men as the best trained and most carefully selected pack in the 
kingdom. ‘To this gentleman we are indebted for the following 
interesting account of 
OTTER HUNTING. 
“From about the year 1750 until the middle of the eighteenth 
century otter-hunting was held in great repute in some of the 
districts of the county of Durham; Stockton, Hurworth, and 
Croft being much famed for their breed of otter hounds. 
The river Tees being a water well adapted to the sport, the 
pursuit of the otter was followed with great enthusiasm. As 
the capture and death of the quarry was the great desideratum, 
it was usual on these occasions for the biped participators to be 
so amply provided with spears, leisters, prongs, and other shaft 
instruments, that an expedition of this kind partook more of the 
prestige of the tournament than a hunt; hounds then being 
considered more as auxiliaries than primary movers in the chase. 
A diversity of opinion exists respecting the requirements 
necessary to constitute an otter hound, some pertinaciously 
contending that the essentials of such an animal are lowness of 
stature, great length of body, capacicusness of head, in addition 
to the indispensable concomitants of crooked legs; others there 
are who as persistently maintain that old draft (and bordering 
on the worn out) fox hounds comprise the desired elements of 
an otter hound. In reference to the former, although it may be 
hardly necessary to remark that malproportion and illfavoured- 
ness in otter hounds are no more a perfection than in other 
animals, it may not be quite superfluous to add that notwith- 
standing fox hounds may occasionally do, on a fresh drag, and 
when an otter is newly put up, or unkennelled, and in a small 
river, yet, under other and more adverse circumstances, they are 
not to be depended upon. And as it requires many years of 
education to form the hound, as well as the common mind, it | 
follows that there is a better prospect of successfully attaining a 
desired object when the faculties are in vigour and perfection 
