7 6 British Dogs. 



entirely improved out of existence than to the harrier of to-day, for it is 

 long since hare hunting was revolutionised, and the slow plodding hound 

 that would dwell on the scent, giving vent to the keenness of his own en- 

 joyment of the chase, and delighting the sportsman with melodious 

 tongue whilst following puss in her every wile and double, has had to make 

 way for the modern hound, possessing more dash and speed, which force 

 the hare to depend on her swiftness rather than on cunning devices to 

 evade her pursuers. 



Harriers, like other classes of hounds, have been bred and varied to 

 suit the requirements of the country they are hunted in and the taste 

 and even whims of the owner. " Stonehenge," in his original work on 

 the dog, says. "The true Harrier is a dwarf southern hound, with a 

 very slight infusion of the greyhound in him." But I should think, to 

 get the increased speed required, it would be unnecessary and unadvis- 

 able to go to the greyhound for qualities to be obtained from a nearer ally 

 the light and fleet northern hound, which cross would not endanger or 

 diminish the scenting power. Beckford, a sportsman and brilliant writer 

 on sporting, whose opinions were, and still are, authoritative as far as 

 applicable to the altered circumstances of our day, writing the end of last 

 century, says : " The hounds I think most likely to show you sport are 

 between the large slow hunting Harrier and the little fox beagle ; the 

 former are too dull, too heavy, and too slow the latter too lively, too 

 light, and too fleet. The first, it is true, have most excellent noses, 

 and I make no doubt will kill their game at last if the day be long enough 

 but the days are short in winter, and it is bad hunting in the dark. 

 The other, on the contrary, fling and dash, and are all alive ; but every 

 cold blast affects them, and if your country be deep and wet, it is not 

 impossible that some of them may be drowned. My hounds," he goes 

 on to say, " were a cross of both these kinds, in which it was my 

 endeavour to get as much bone and strength in as small a compass as 

 possible. I tried many years and an infinity of hounds before I could 

 get what I wanted, and at last had the pleasure to see them very hand- 

 some, small, yet very bony ; they ran remarkably well together, went fast 

 enough, had all the alacrity that could be desired, and would hunt the 

 coldest scent." 



The Harrier in most externals is almost a facsimile of the fox- 

 hound, but the head is in proportion heavier, the skull flat and 



