282 THE FOXHOUND. 
to it when found; so determined in character, that it has many a time been known to 
persevere in its chase until it has fallen dead on the track ; and so swift of foot that few 
horses can keep pace with it in the hunting-field, if the scent be good, and ground easy. 
It is averred by competent authority, that no man can: undertake to remain in the same 
field with the hounds while they are running. 
The speed which can be attained by Foxhounds may be estimated from the well- 
known match which took place upon the Beacon course at Newmarket. The length 
of the course is 4 miles 1 furlong and 132 yards, and this distance was run by the 
winning Dog, “ Blue-cap,” in eight minutes and a few seconds. The famous racehorse, 
“Flying Childers,” in running over the same ground, was little more than half a minute 
ahead of the hound. Now, if we compare the dimensions of the horse and the hound, 
we shall form a tolerably accurate conception of the extraordinary swiftness to which the 
latter animal can attain. In that match, no less than sixty horses started together 
with the competitors, but of the sixty only twelve were with the Dogs at the end of this 
short run. 
It must be remembered that, in addition to the severe and unceasing labour of the 
chase, in which the Dogs are always busily at work, either in searching for a lost scent, or 
following it wp when found, the hounds are forced to undergo no small exertion in 
walking from their kennel to the “ meet,” which is frequently at some distance from their 
home ; and then in walking back again when the chase is over. 
That the animal should be enabled to perform these severe tasks, which often occur 
several times weekly, it is necessary that it should not be too large, lest it should 
fatigue itself with its own bulk, and go through considerable needless exertion in forcing 
its way through thickets where a lesser Dog would pass without difficulty ; and it is 
equally necessary that it should not be too small, lest it should be unequal to the various 
impediments which cross its path, and by reason of its shorter limbs be unable to keep up 
properly with the rest of the pack. 
According to the latest authorities, the best average height for Foxhounds is from 
twenty-one to twenty-five inches, the female being generally smaller than the male. 
However, the size of the Dog does not matter so much; but it is expected to match the 
rest of the pack in height as well as in general appearance. 
It has been well remarked, by a writer to whom allusion has already been made, that 
a hound ought not to be looked upon as an individual, but as a component part of a pack, 
and, therefore, that a Dog which will be almost invaluable in one pack will be quite mad- 
missible into another. It is a great fault in a Dog to be slower than its companions, but it 
is a fault of hardly less magnitude to be too fast for them, and to run away at such a pace 
that it seems to be getting all the hunting to itself. To use an expressive, but conventional 
term, “suitiness” is one of the principal points in a pack of hounds, which ought to appear 
as if they all belonged to one family. 
In its natural state, the head of the Foxhound has a different aspect from that which is 
presented by the trained Dog. This change of appearance is caused by the custom of 
cropping, or rather of trimming, the ears, so as to dock them of their full proportions, and 
to leave no more of the external organ than is necessary to protect the orifice. It is said 
that this process is necessary, in order to guard the animal’s ears from being torn by the 
brambles and other thorny impediments which constantly come in its path, and through 
which the Dog is continually forced to thrust itself But the custom does not seem to 
confer a corresponding benefit on the poor creature whose ears are subjected to the 
operator's steel, and it may be that the custom of cropping Dogs’ ears will go out of 
fashion, as is happily the case with the equally cruel practice of cropping the ears of 
horses, and docking their tails. 
This Dog is a sufficiently sagacious animal, and if it were subjected to the influence of 
man as frequently as the Terrier and other companions of the human race, would not lose 
by comparison with them. Even in the state of semi-civilization into which these Dogs 
are brought, their obedience to the voice and gestures of the huntsman is quite mar- 
vellous ; and even when in their kennel they will come individually to be fed, no Dog 
venturing to leave its place until its name has been called. 
