The Greyhound. 15 



The alteration in the game laws of modern times, coupled with the great 

 increase of wealth and leisure, have, by giving impetus to the natural 

 desire for field sports, characteristic of Englishmen, led to the present 

 great and increasing popularity of coursing, and consequent diffusion of 

 greyhounds through all classes, heightening an honourable competition, 

 and securing a continued, if not a greater care and certainty of the dogs' 

 still further improvement. 



It is impossible to separate the greyhound from coursing, as we under- 

 stand it ; for, although the sport existed and was practised in a manner 

 similar to our present system some seventeen hundred years ago, as 

 described by Arrian in the second century, the thorough organization of 

 the sport and the condensation of the laws governing it, are not only 

 essentially British, but, in their present shape, quite modern, and it is 

 the conditions of the sport that have produced the greyhound of the day, 

 to which the words 



They are as swift as breathed stags, 

 Aye, fleeter than the roe, 



are more applicable than to any of its predecessors. 



If we go back to the earlier centuries of the history of our country, we 

 find the greyhound used in pursuit of the wolf, boar, deer, &c., in 

 conjunction with other dogs of more powerful build ; still we can easily 

 perceive that to take a share in such sports at all he must have been 

 probably larger, certainly stronger, coarser, and more inured to hardships, 

 whilst he would not be kept so strictly to sight hunting as the demands of 

 the present require ; still, the material out of which the present dog has 

 been made was there, and his form and characteristics, even to minute 

 detail, were recognised, and have been described with an accuracy which 

 no other breed of dogs has had the advantage of, else might we be in a 

 better position to understand the value of claims for old descent set up 

 for so many varieties. And to these descriptions I propose to refer, 

 to endorse, as well as to make still more clear and emphatic, the points 

 of excellence recognised as correct by modern followers of the leash. 



The whole group to which he belongs is distinguished by the elongated 

 head, the parietal, side and upper or partition bones of the head shelving 

 in towards each other, high proportionate stature, deep chest, arched 

 loins, tucked-up flank, and long fine tail ; and such general form as is 



