90 BRITISH DOGS 



that cat-like roundness that the Abbess and many other authors 

 suggest) and compact. 



The beam-like back is to give the necessary strength ; the deep 

 chest is needed with sufficient width to give plenty of room for the 

 lungs and heart to freely perform their functions ; width is needed 

 that the necessary room may be got without making the chest so 

 deep as to be in the way and catch against stones, tussocks, and 

 lumps of turf on rough, coarse ground, when the dog is fully 

 stretched in the gallop ; the oblique shoulders enable the dog 

 to throw his legs well forward and close together, thus enabling him 

 to cover a lot of ground at each stride, and also, in connection with 

 his long and supple neck, to throw himself through an astonishingly 

 small meuse (gap in the hedge). The necessity for sufficient bone, 

 big, strong joints, and muscular legs is apparent where such violent 

 exertion is called for, and the roundish, compact foot is a necessity 

 for speed. 



The loins must be strong ; a Greyhound weak there might be fast 

 for a spurt, but he would prove merely flashy, being neither able to 

 endure nor yet be good at his turns. When Markham says " short 

 and strong fillets," he means the loin the term being used in 

 speaking of the horse not the fleshy part of the thigh, which the 

 term might seem to indicate. The hips must be wide asunder, and 

 the hind legs straight as regards each other, " not crompyng as of 

 an oxe" that is, as we now express it, not cowhocked but they 

 must be bent or sicklehocked, and the thighs with immense and 

 well-developed muscle. The same strength of muscular development 

 is needed as in the fore legs, and especially there should be no 

 weakness below the knee. The dog should stand rather wide 

 behind, and higher than before ; the slight width gives additional 

 propelling force, and the higher hindquarters additional speed and 

 power in racing up hill, as hares invariably do, if they can, unless 

 there is temptation of a covert near. 



In respect of the tail, all agree that it should be long and fine ; but, 

 as a matter of fact, the latter term requires slight modification, as 

 all tails are not of that fineness that usually obtains. The tail, no 

 doubt, acts as a rudder, and as such must play an important part 

 in swerving and turning. 



Colour in Greyhounds should go for little ; for although many 

 persons have a prejudice in favour of a special fancy, experience 

 proves that there are good of all. " Stonehenge " says the colours 

 preferred are black, and red or fawn, with black muzzle ; and it may 

 be worth notice that, in quoting hini, " Idstone " falls into the 

 singular mistake of saying that they should have red muzzles. 



At the sale of the Greyhounds of that eminent courser Lord 

 Rivers, in May, 1825, a list of which is given in Goodlake's 

 " Courser's Manual," there were, out of fifty-two dogs, twenty -three 



