53 6 THE CARNIVORES 



The most striking and characteristic feature of the bloodhound is its magnifi- 

 cent head, which is considerably larger and heavier in the male than in the female. 

 While generally extremely massive, the head is remarkable for its narrowness be- 

 tween the ears, where it rises into a dome-like prominence, terminating in a marked 

 protuberance in the occipital region. The skin of the forehead, like that round the 

 eyes, is thrown into a series of transverse puckers, as is well shown in the recum- 

 bent figure of our illustration. The long and tapering jaws are of great depth but 

 relatively narrow, and abruptly truncated in front ; while the upper lips are pendu- 

 lous. The large and thin ears should hang close to the cheeks ; and the small and 

 deeply-sunk hazel eyes are characterized by the exposure of a considerable part of 

 the membrane of the socket, which is generally red, and is technically known as the 

 haw. The throat is heavy, and passes downward into a more or less well-marked 

 dewlap. In the English breed the tail is slightly fringed with hair, although in 

 our figured example it is quite smooth ; it should be carried in a curve, but not 

 raised above a right angle with the line of the back. The short coat should be coarse 

 and hard on the back and sides, but soft and silky on the head and ears. The most 

 esteemed coloration is black and tan, but the animal may be all tan ; the presence of 

 white being a blemish. Our illustration is taken from a foreign strain of the blood- 

 hound, which is lower on its legs than the English breed. 



s , . English hounds are descended from two extinct breeds, respectively 



known as the southern hound and the northern hound. Both of these 

 were large heavily-built animals, with thick throats, distinct dewlaps, and large 

 pendent ears resembling those of the bloodhound. They were slow in pace, and 

 dwelt upon the scent more than their modern descendants. The true English stag- 

 hound was a considerably larger animal than the foxhound, with a relatively broader 

 and shorter head, and a more thickly- fringed tail, and was also distinguished by 

 several points in the conformation of the limbs. The large foxhounds now used 

 for stag hunting in England stand about twenty-five inches high in the males, and 

 from twenty-three to twenty-three and one-half inches in the females. 



The modern foxhound, derived from either the old southern or 

 northern hound, with perhaps some cross of a different breed, is re- 

 markable for the combination of speed and endurance which it possesses, and is thus 

 an excellent instance of the results which can be attained by breeding with a par- 

 ticular end in view. The appearance of the foxhound is much modified by the arti- 

 ficial rounding of the ears a process in which a large portion of the extremity of 

 the lobe is cut away in order to prevent its becoming entangled in bushes. The 

 coat should be short and hard, but at the same time glossy ; the tail having a dis- 

 tinct fringe of hair on its under surface. The favorite, or true hound color, is- 

 black, white, and tan; but there are also several "pies" in which the respective 

 colors are blended with white ; while whole colors, or black and tan only, are not 

 unknown. The endurance and speed of the modern foxhound is fully attested in 

 numerous works on sport, and will not, therefore, be further mentioned here. 

 Stonehenge observes that a peculiar ' ' faculty in which the hound differs from 

 his congeners is a mental one, leading him always, when he loses scent of his quarry, 

 to cast forward rather than backward, and to do this with a ' dash ' altogether un- 



