THE TRAIL HOUND 



CHAPTER XVIII 



THE trail hound is a product of the North 

 Country, whose ancestry dates back to the 

 time of the old Trail Hounds, which were 

 originally bred from the earliest existing type 

 of fox-hound. He is bred and trained specially 

 for racing, and is a light-boned hound of the fell 

 type. His business is to run a drag in com- 

 petition with other hounds, and the sport is known 

 as hound trailing. His master is usually a work- 

 ing man, for comparatively few of the sporting 

 " gentry " go in for keeping trail hounds. 



Hound trailing, or hound racing, is a summer 

 sport, which helps to tide over the time between 

 one fox-hunting season and another. Hound 

 trails are held at most of the local shows and sports 

 meetings, and it being then the " season" in 

 the Lakes, tourists and visitors are more familiar 

 with this branch of sport than they are with 

 winter fox-hunting. 



While the majority of trail hounds are bred 

 with the object of producing a real " flier" on 

 the drag, occasionally one or more of a litter refuse 

 to run it, and may find their way to the fox- 

 hound kennels. Every owner lives in the hope 

 of breeding a prospective champion like the late 

 " Wyndham," a hound famous in the annals of 

 Lakeland sport. A trail hound is nothing more 

 than a well put together fox-hound of the fell 

 type, light of bone, with hare feet, and well let 



210 



