FOX-HUNTING IN NEW ENGLAND 25 



for they will follow a fox through all his devious 



windings and endless devices, from dawn till 



dark, through the night and for another day. Our 



best dogs are well described by Shakespeare in 



"Midsummer Night's Dream": 



"My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind. 

 So flew'd, so sanded; and their heads are hung 

 With ears that sweep away the morning dew; 

 Crook-kneed, and dew-lapp'd like Thessalian bulls; 

 Slow in pursuit, but matched in mouth like bells. 

 Each under each." 



Their colors are blue-mottled, with patches of 

 black and tan or yellow, with tan eye-patches; 

 white, flecked with yellow, termed by old-time 

 hunters, "punkin-an'-milk"; white and black and 

 black and tan, with variations and admixtures of 

 all these colors. It is an old saying, "that a good 

 horse cannot be of a bad color"; and the color of 

 a hound is more a matter of fancy than of excel- 

 lence. A loud and melodious voice is a most de- 

 sirable quality, and this many of our native fox- 

 dogs possess in perfection. A hound with a weak 

 voice is a constant worry, and one with a discord- 

 ant voice vexes the ear. 



When the game is started the dog should con- 

 tinually give tongue, so that you (and the fox as 

 well) may always know just where he is. The 

 wrinkled brows and foreheads, and long, pendent 

 ears and flews of many of these dogs, give them an 

 extremely sad and troubled expression from which 



