i8o BRITISH DOGS 



and is usually fringed slightly with longish hair. The coat should be 

 short, dense, and rather hard in texture ; but as a final covering for 

 all these excellent "points" we must have a coating of "quality." 

 A horse or a hound without " quality " is never really pleasing, and 

 a pack of Foxhounds failing in quality can never be regarded with 

 strong approval. Such is a verbal description of a high-class Fox- 

 hound (Fig. 48) ; but an object-lesson is worth all the written de- 

 scriptions ever published, and any one wishing to make a study of 

 the breed cannot do better than pay a visit to the summer Hound 

 Show held annually at Peterborough, where he will see Foxhounds 

 in perfection from some of the best packs in England, and as only 

 the very best are sent, the eye is not so confused as when a whole 

 pack is under inspection. 



It is now rapidly becoming the custom to leave the ears of the 

 Foxhound as nature intended, it being more than suspected that 

 the time-honoured custom of " rounding " is of no real advantage. 

 One man says he " rounds " his hounds as it " prevents canker to 

 a great extent"; another says he does it "to prevent their being 

 torn " ; a third thinks " the loss of blood entailed by the operation 

 does the young entry so much good " ; and the great majority do it 

 " because it is the custom." But we live in an enquiring age, and 

 the result of enquiry is to cast considerable doubt upon the value 

 of any of the reasons given. 



A pack of Foxhounds, to look well and to work well together, 

 should be uniform in size ; what that size should be depends 

 largely upon the country hunted and the taste of the Master. The 

 majority seem to prefer medium-sized hounds, and always have 

 done so, judging from the ancient literature of the breed; but there 

 have been some wonderfully smart, quick-killing " small " packs 

 about 2iin. It is generally supposed that bitches are smarter in 

 their work and "cast" quicker than the dog hounds, and many 

 packs divide the sexes and hunt all dog hounds one day, all bitches 

 the next. 



The speed of a Foxhound has been a subject of interest for 

 very many years, and it is quite a mistake to suppose it was 

 little thought of in old days. On the contrary, we meet with re- 

 peated accounts of matches between favourite hounds of different 

 packs, and challenges being issued to run for sums of money up to 

 ten thousand guineas. " Blain " reports an interesting match for 

 five hundred guineas between a couple nominated by a Mr. Barry 

 and another couple nominated by Mr. Meynell. The distance 

 was four miles on a hot drag, and the time taken was eight minutes 

 and a few seconds. It is recorded that sixty horsemen followed 

 the race, but only twelve could see the finish. A celebrated hound 

 called Merkin is stated by Mr. Daniel to have in a trial covered 

 the same distance in seven minutes. 



