74 British Dogs. 



latter follow him up from holt to holt and pool to pool, and the huntsmen 

 eagerly watch for his vents. 



In recent times otter hunting has been modified to suit different cir- 

 cumstances, and practices in vogue in one hunt are tabooed in another. 

 The spear is discontinued, and the practice of tailing the otter that is, 

 rushing in on him when worn and pressed, seizing him by the tail, swing- 

 ing him round in presence of the hounds to excite them, and finally 

 throwing him among them whilst treated as an act of prowess in some 

 otter-hunting districts, is strictly forbidden in others. 



A breed of dogs selected and kept to this game, even if originally of 

 the identical stock of our modern bloodhounds, would naturally diverge 

 in some characteristics, and the wet-resisting coat, so necessary to a 

 dog so much in the water, would be developed ; whereas, on the 

 contrary, the treatment the companion bloodhound is subjected to 

 tends to fine and soften his coat, or there may have been, and I think 

 it highly probable, if not capable of absolute proof, that there were 

 rough-coated hounds of the bloodhound type from which the otter hound 

 has sprung, and, according to Caius, bloodhounds were used for this 

 sport, but whether either of these suppositions is correct or not, he is 

 in shape and voice and style so truly a hound that I cannot think he 

 is indebted to a strain of either spaniel, terrier, or deerhound blood for 

 his rough and wet-resisting coat. 



In general appearance always excepting the coat he much resembles 

 the bloodhound ; he should be perfect in symmetry, strongly built, hard 

 and enduring, with unfailing powers of scent, and a natural antipathy to 

 the game he is bred to pursue. The head should be large, broader in 

 proportion than the bloodhound's, the forehead high, the muzzle a fair 

 length, and the nostrils wide. The ears are long, thin, and pendulous, 

 fringed with hair. The neck is not naturally long, and looks shorter 

 than it really is from the abundance of hair on it ; the shoulders should 

 slope well, the legs be straight, and the feet a good size, but compact ; 

 the back strong and wide, the ribs, and particularly the back ribs, well 

 let down ; the thighs should be big and firm, and the hocks well let 

 down ; the stern well and thickly covered with hair, and carried well up 

 but not curled ; the colours are generally grizzle or sandy, with black and 

 tan more or less clearly defined. The subject of our engraving is Mr. 

 J. C. Carrick's Charmer ; the drawing was made out of the hunting 



