280 TOUR IN SUTHERLANDSHIRE. 



mortalised in so many of Landseer's pictures that, although 

 deer-stalking may be given up, the dog will for centuries be 

 remembered ; but the bloodhound is not so generally used 

 for this sport as it might be. If greater trouble was taken 

 in training bloodhounds to the tracking of wounded deer, 

 this species of dog would be invaluable to the sportsman. 

 But to effect this, it is absolutely necessary that they should 

 be taught to track quietly whilst led. Almost every blood- 

 hound pulls arid strains on the collar, panting and struggling 

 to get forward on the scent, until at last he becomes as blown 

 and distressed as if he had run full speed all the time : and, 

 indeed, more so. Besides which, as perfect silence is a sine 

 qud noTb in following up a wounded stag, your object will 

 very probably be defeated. Train the bloodhound to keep 

 pace with his leader, and to track silently and slowly, " pari 

 passu," whatever scent he is put on, and he is then invaluable. 

 Many instances of the extraordinary powers of scent dis- 

 played by this dog in following wounded animals have come 

 under my observation, some of which would appear in- 

 credible. 



A bloodhound is easily taught to follow the track of any 

 stranger whose path he may come across on the mountain or 

 elsewhere. This faculty alone makes this dog worthy of far 

 more pains than are ever bestowed on him. Keepers seem 

 to think that because he is called a bloodhound, and because 

 bloodhounds, in former days, were used for tracking robbers 

 and fugitives, that he requires no teaching to enable him to 

 follow any track which he is set upon ; and masters generally 

 leave these things to their keepers, trusting implicitly to 

 their verdict as to the capabilities of the dog. But this 

 opinion is altogether erroneous. The bloodhound, to perform 

 his duty perfectly, requires education, like every other dog. 

 With a due degree of care, and frequent practice when young, 

 a well-bred bloodhound will soon learn to track a man with 

 unerring correctness. 



An extraordinary instance of this faculty in a young blood- 

 hound occurred some fifteen or sixteen years back in Wor- 

 cestershire, for the truth of which I can vouch. At the 

 house of a lady in the country, where a young, full-grown 

 bloodhound was kept, the harness-room was robbed during 

 the night. Some of the grooms, who found out the robbery 

 at an early hour in the morning, having heard that blood- 

 hounds would hunt men, took the dog out, and put him on 



