THE HOUND 27 



charge of the kennel bred the hounds in the 

 direction to which his own tastes pointed : thus 

 one preferred the deer, another the fox, and a 

 third the timid hare. At the beginning of the 

 eighteenth century there were four distinct types 

 of hounds that still retained their own individual 

 characteristics. Each kind of hound owed some- 

 thing to the other for a certain excellence, and 

 there is no doubt they were occasionally crossed 

 in the hope of grafting on some good quality. 

 In spite of this crossing of the breeds we can 

 trace the virtues and vices of each sort in its 

 descendants to-day. 



The buck-hound resembled the fox-hound as 

 we know him now, and like him was able to 

 adapt himself to hunting any description of 

 animal, but always excelled in the pursuit of 

 vermin. There are few packs of otter-hounds 

 that do not include at least three or four couple 

 of draft fox-hounds, and once entered they impart 

 a spirit into the hunt which seals the death of 

 many an otter. Two hundred years ago the 

 buck-hound was the best all-round for hunting, 

 and therefore more attention was paid to his 

 breeding, the result being the fox-hound, which 



