THE STAG 187 



pleasant autumn Highlands can look like in winter. 

 If he has taste, and hardihood, he may like the 

 ruder aspect and experience the better of the 

 two. 



To many, the hound is known only from the 

 frontispiece to Scott's poems, or under the canopy 

 of his monument. In the main, he is a privileged 

 inmate of the kennel ; more frequently a noble 

 ornament of the hearth, or a picturesque companion 

 of decayed gentility. For lack of use, he was so 

 fast dwindling in numbers, that the places where 

 he was known to be, could be reckoned on the 

 fingers of the hands ; and, if he has been rescued 

 just in time, it was solely from a sentiment of 

 regret to see so noble a creature pass out of 

 existence. 



While thus dwindling in numbers, he was no 

 less rapidly enfeebling in constitution. " Like other 

 greyhounds, these dogs do not continue fit for 

 service for more than six years. The violent pace, 

 and the strains they are liable to from the nature 

 of the ground they run over, and the strength of 

 the animal they pursue, all combine to make them 

 show symptoms of old age at an earlier time of 

 life than most other hunting dogs." 



This overstraining, which tells so severely upon 



