206 BRITISH DOGS 



and very rough, rougher-coated hounds are used ; but poll durs are 

 scarce, as far as diminutive hounds are concerned. 



Bassets a jambes demi-torses are simply crosses between Bassets 

 a jambes torses and Bassets a jambes droites. They are usually 

 bigger than the former and smaller than the latter, although it must 

 be borne in mind that there are several varieties of Bassets a jambes 

 droites quite as small as the smallest with crooked legs. In short, 

 there are so many subdivisions in each breed that any classification 

 must necessarily be general. 



The advantages claimed by the owners of Bassets a jambes 

 demi-torses are these : first, these hounds are almost as sure-nosed 

 as the full-crooked breeds ; secondly, they run faster, and yet not 

 fast enough to spoil shooting ; thirdly, in a wood with moderate 

 ditches, being bigger in body and higher on the leg than the full- 

 crooked Bassets, they can clear the ditches at a bound, whereas 

 the full jambes torses have to go down into them, and scramble up 

 on the other side. In points, they are pretty much like their 

 congeners, but already the cross tells. The lips are shorter ; the 

 muzzle is not so stout in proportion to general size ; the ears are 

 much shorter ; the skull is less conical, the occiput being not so 

 pronounced ; the body is not so long ; the stern is carried more 

 horizontally ; the feet are rounder ; the wrinkles in the face are 

 fewer ; the eye is smaller ; and the coat, as a rule, is coarser. The 

 increase in size is also great. I have seen such reaching to fully 

 i6in. ; and I believe they had been obtained by a direct cross from 

 a regular chien courant (hound) with a full Basset a jambes torses. 

 When sire and dam are both good, there is no reason why the 

 progeny should not answer the breeder's purpose ; but I confess 

 to a tendency for either one thing or the other, and, were I to go 

 in for fancy for that breed of hounds, I would certainly get either 

 a thoroughly crooked Basset or a thoroughly straight-on-his-pins 

 Beagle. By the way, a black-and-tan or a red Basset a jambes 

 torses cannot, by any possible use of one's eyes, be distinguished 

 from a Dachshund of the same colour, although some German 

 writers assert that the breeds are quite distinct. To the naked eye 

 there is no difference ; but in the matter of names (wherein German 

 scientists particularly shine), then, indeed, confusion gets worse 

 confounded. They have, say, a dozen black-and-tan Bassets a 

 jambes torses before them. Well, if one of them is a thorough 

 good-looking hound, they call him Dachs Bracken ; if he is short- 

 eared, and with a pointed muzzle, they cap him with the appellation 

 of a Dachshund. Between you and me, kind reader, it is a distinction 

 without a difference, and there is no doubt that both belong to the 

 same breed. I will, at a fortnight's notice, place a Basset a jambes 

 torses, small size, side by side with the best Dachshund hound to 

 be found, and if any difference in legs, anatomy, and general 



