I20 Horse and Hound. 



breeds to-day will produce a hound with many of 

 the characteristics and qualities of the foxhound ; 

 this I ascertained from the accidental service of 

 one of my bloodhound l)itches by a greyhound. 



Effingham Wilson, author of the Field Book, 

 published in London in 1835, writing of the stag- 

 hound, says: 



"It seems extremely probable that this large, 

 strong, and ]>ony hound was the primeval stock 

 from which all the collateral branches (fox- 

 hounds included) of this race have descended, 

 and all deviations from the original stem have 

 been the result of crosses and improvements dur- 

 ing many centuries by those skilled in rearing and 

 breeding dogs of the chase, and varied in strength 

 and size according to the particular sport for 

 which they are intended." 



As to the antiquity of the foxhound, if the 

 writings of Gervase Markham, in 163 1, are to be 

 relied upon, hounds were used in the chase of the 

 fox as early as 1630. 



The origin of the American foxhound has 

 greatly exercised the speculative faculties of many 

 writers, many of whom draw upon vague tradi- 

 tion and conjecture to support their theories. 

 (See chapter on History and Origin.) 



Our old-time native foxhounds were undoubt- 

 edly degenerate bloodhounds, and to the infusion 

 of English, Irish, and French blood are we in- 

 debted for the vast improvement, especially in 



