78 THE BASSET HOUND 



by process of selection from larger varieties, you may 

 ask me what was the object in producing a hound that 

 must, from the very nature of things, be slow and 

 deliberate in his movements. The answer is that 

 French sportsmen needed a slow hound to turn game 

 out of dense cover, and for this reason it was neces- 

 sary to have one with very short legs. They will 

 hunt well almost any kind of animal, but so beauti- 

 ful are their scenting properties that they rarely 

 ever change. When first introduced into this country 

 they were used to drive rabbits to the guns, but 

 latterly a number of packs have been formed for 

 hare-hunting in the place of Beagles, and most of 

 those who have had experience of them will admit 

 that they show excellent sport. They are quite fast 

 enough for any one but a Dorando or a Shrubb' 

 to follow on foot. The main drawback is that they 

 are bad at fences, and, therefore, the more open the 

 country the better the sport they will show you. 

 They have magnificent music, with notes deep and 

 sonorous, like those of the Bloodhound. 



I have seen a letter from a gentleman in Natal 

 who for long experienced a difficulty in finding a 

 dog that would drive the smaller varieties of buck 

 out of the thick scrub to the guns. He imported 

 Pointers, Foxhounds, and Harriers, but found nothing 

 that would suit his purpose until he had a couple 

 of Bassets, and he was delighted with the result. 

 Certainly the Basset has a very keen nose. At one 

 time old Welbeck, whose photograph appears in this 

 book, used to be taken out with my Bloodhounds, 

 and he would hunt a man with the best of them, 

 giving tongue all the way, but, of course, coming 

 in long after the larger hounds had finished. Bassets 



