Belvoir Blood. 85 



huntsman's Fairy, whilst Branson's Vic was by Twister, 

 some time with the Quorn, from another Vic that originally 

 came from one of Lord Aveland's gamekeepers. This 

 was all the so-called working strain ; and when we are told 

 that most of these terriers were good-looking to boot, less 

 surprise is expressed at the value of their blood to-day. 

 It may not be out of place here to say something about 

 these Belvoir terriers, which, in the time of the huntsman 

 W. Cooper, were bred with some care, as many of the 

 earths in that country w r ere strong, and a game dog was 

 required to drive the fox from them. The main earth close 

 to the Castle was supposed to be quite a sanctuary for a 

 hunted fox, until a little dog, named Doc, went under after 

 a strong vixen, and bundled her out without very much 

 trouble, as the same dog did many others on subsequent 

 occasions. Mr. T. H. Scott, near Thirsk, who some years 

 ago took particular interest in " Belvoir blood," says he 

 was unable to trace the present breed of Belvoir terriers 

 further back than some forty-five years ago, when Tom 

 Goosey was the huntsman ; but his Tyrant was a celebrity 

 in his way, which, later on, went to Sir Thomas Whichcote, 

 who, with this assistance, bred Belvoir Venom. Still, there 

 is always considerable unreliability about these pedigrees 

 of terriers before the Stud Books were published, as 

 readers, no doubt, have noticed earlier on. 



It was from such strains as these, then, that our some- 

 what impure " Belvoir blood " of the present day was 

 produced, and from it came the dog previously mentioned, 

 Belgrave Joe, by many admirers supposed to have been the 

 most perfect fox terrier ever produced. Be this as it may, 

 there is no doubt he was a very first-class terrier, and, at 

 any rate, well within the first two dozen champions. Born 



