20 



to make him neglect the essential quaUties of a hound 

 he may desire to perpetuate. Such a crime is an insult 

 to past generations and a felony on those unborn. 



In referring to the Belvoir I am not doing it in 

 a spirit of criticism, having always been a consistent 

 admirer of the pack. You will look in vain through 

 the whole kennel for a leg that is not plumb straight, 

 and the beautiful tan colour is a delight to the eye. 

 Style, quaUty, and strength are there in perfection. 

 Owing to the number of puppies bred, the Dukes of 

 Rutland could afford to indulge a harmless fancy for 

 colour or straight legs without loss of hunting quaU- 

 ties. History, however, relates that Belvoir once 

 drafted, for not being quite straight, a hound destined 

 to acquire great fame and to live again in later years 

 through the reputation of his children's children. 

 This was Mr. Osbaldestone's Furrier, a descendant 

 of Mr. Meynell's Stormer. Some twenty years later 

 Belvoir acquired Rallywood from the Brocklesby, and 

 this hound was more or less responsible for the pack's 

 distinction in the latter haK of the last century. 

 Ralljrwood being a descendant in the male line of 

 Furrier, Belvoir was thus able to make a sohd foundation 

 on the stone they had previously rejected. 



Leaving the straight leg as considered necessary 

 for the true conformation of a hound in his work, and 

 therefore requiring no further argument, I come to 

 the absurd craze for the Belvoir tan colour which 

 has done great harm. The old saying that " a good 

 horse is never a bad colour " is equally applicable to 

 a hound. The desire of a master or a huntsman to 

 have his pack match in size and colour is a laudable 

 ambition, but it must be a great waste of good 

 material to discard the best hunters because their 



