242 



THE AMERICAN BOOK OF THE DOG. 



widow who lived on a promontory of Lilybeum, returned 

 home late in the evening. The dogs flew at him with so 

 much fury that they would have killed him if his breth- 

 ren had not come to his assistance, upon which the dogs 

 were all of them hanged, as having lost their original 

 instinct." If this had taken place in the nineteenth cent- 

 ury, the priest would have been hanged and the dogs would 



ENGLISH BLOODHOUND BONO. 

 Owned by Edwin Brough. 



have won collars inscribed with words of commendation 

 and glory. 



Until comparatively recent times these Hounds were only to be found in 

 the kennels of the nobility, and even now well-bred Bloodhounds are in the 

 hands of very few breeders, and are all closely related. 



Jesse says the earliest mention of Bloodhounds was in the reign of Henry 

 III. The breed originated from the Talbot, which was brought over by 

 William the Conqueror, and seems to have been very similar to the St. Hubert, 



