94 ANECDOTES OF ANIMALS. 



miles. The hounds were found dead at a little dis- 

 tance, having been unable to leap the wall. 



The Foxhounds are still smaller than the staghounds, 

 are generally white in colour, with clouds of black and 

 tan. They have been known to run at full speed for 

 ten hours, during which the hunters were obliged to 

 change their horses three times, or abandon the pursuit. 



The Harrier and the Beagle are still smaller varieties. 

 As the name indicates, the former are used exclusively 

 for hunting the hare, and have nearly superseded the 

 beagle, which is chiefly valuable for its very musical 

 note. There was a fancy breed of them in the time of 

 Queen Elizabeth, so small, that one could be carried 

 in a man's glove, and they were called singing dogs. 

 They used to be conveyed to the field in panniers. 



Turnspits are descended from ill-made hounds, which 

 they resemble in body, but have very short, and eveu 

 crooked legs. They are rough or smooth. They are 

 said also to be derived from terriers ; and it seems to 

 me that the perpetuation of malformation in several 

 breeds will produce the turnspit. They derive their 

 name from having been used to turn the kitchen spit, 

 being put into an enclosed wheel, placed at the end for 

 the purpose. It is a curious fact, that now the office 

 is abolished, the race has become nearly extinct. I 

 extract the following from Captain Brown's Popular 

 Natural History, to prove that if turnspits had crooked 

 legs, they had not crooked wits : ' I have had in my 

 kitchen,' said the Duke de Liancort to M. Descartes, 

 ' two turnspits, which took their turns regularly every 

 other day in the wheel. One of them, not liking his 

 employment, hid himself on the day he should have 

 wrought, when his companion was forced to mount the 



