OF BREEDING HOUNDS 47 



it. 1 Never put an old dog to an old bitch. Be careful 

 that they be healthy which you breed from, or you 

 are not likely to have a healthy offspring. Should a 

 favourite dog skirt a little, put him to a thorough 

 line-hunting bitch, and such a cross may succeed. 

 My objection to the breeding from such a hound 

 is, that, as skirting is what most fox-hounds acquire 

 from practice, it had better not be made natural 

 to them. A very famous sportsman has told me, 

 that he frequently breeds from brothers and sisters. 

 As I should be very unwilling to urge any thing 

 in opposition to such authority, you had better try 

 it ; and if it succeed in hounds, it is more, I believe, 

 than it usually does in other animals. A famous 

 cocker assured a friend of mine, that the third 

 generation, which he called a nick, he had found 

 to succeed very well, but no nearer. As I have 

 neither tried one nor the other, I cannot speak 

 with any certainty about them. 



Give particular orders to your feeder to watch 

 over the bitches with a cautious eye, and separate 

 such as are going to be proud, before it be too 

 late. The advances they make, frequently portend 

 mischief as well as love, and, if not prevented in 

 time, will not fail to set the whole kennel together 

 by the ears, and may occasion the death of your 

 best dogs : care only can prevent it. 2 



1 After the first season, I breed from all my young dog-hounds who 

 have beauty and goodness to recommend them, to see what whelps they 

 get. 



2 When the bitches are off their heat, they should be suffered to run 

 about the house a day or two, before they are taken out to hunt. 



