THE FOXHOUND. 197 



stallion and mare neither of which had ever been trained 

 or raced. No sportsman would expect to breed a Setter or 

 Pointer from untrained parents which would win a place 

 at a field trial. No cocker would expect to win a main 

 with cocks bred from birds which never fought. Why, 

 then, should a huntsman expect to breed a killing pack of 

 red fox Hounds from stock that had never run or never killed 

 a fox? The thing can not be done. Therefore it goes 

 without saying, that a Hound should not be bred from 

 until fully matured, trained, and experienced in killing 

 foxes. 



Something else is wanted besides a pedigree. True 

 enough, a knowledge of not merely the names, but the 

 performances of the ancestors is essentially necessary, and 

 this is doubly and trebly true of the immediate progenitors. 

 If a bitch which has killed red foxes be bred to a Hound 

 that has killed red foxes, the progeny will be born, most 

 likely, capable of being developed into Hounds capable of 

 killing red foxes. But be it remembered, that though 

 orators and poets may be born, not made, a red-fox-killing 

 pack has to be made; they are not born able to do it. They 

 must be made able by judicious and skilled practice and 

 training after being bred right. 



Nor can they be trained by a man who never rode to a 

 killing pack. If a man does not know how the thing is 

 done, how shall he teach the Hounds ? By sheer force of 

 hereditary instinct, it would be more likely the Hounds 

 would kill in spite of the huntsman, and show him the 

 way to do it. 



In this place we may profitably review the question of 

 the best form and size of Hound to be selected from 

 which to breed a pack capable of dealing with a red fox. 

 The question, to kill or not to kill a red fox, is not, as 

 already hinted, a question of main strength and awk- 

 wardness, but of speed and endurance. Remember that 

 the fox leads the chase, and in a great number of cases 

 outruns and outlasts Hounds, horses, and men, and simply 

 runs away and leaves them. This animal is but little more 



