BREEDS 243 



If you chance to come across a good otter-hound, 

 which is unlikely, you will be in luck. He comes 

 of the staunch and steady old Southern hound, and 

 has something of the look of his progenitors. With 

 a constitution of iron and a coat like rough Irish 

 frieze, impervious to all weathers, he is the ideal of 

 hardihood. Wise as a Lord Chancellor and solemn 

 as an archbishop, it is only slowly you learn to 

 realise the depths of his wisdom. Hunting the 

 wily otter in scent often drowned by water, has 

 developed his sagacity to the highest pitch. I say 

 it is unlikely you will come across one, for the pure 

 otter-hound has been dying out with the gradual 

 diminution of the otters. And it must be owned 

 that the otter has deserved his doom, for there is 

 no more inveterate or destructive water-poacher. 



The dachshund has come into favour of late 

 years, and he was a special favourite of the late 

 Prince Consort. He is a German version of the 

 Border terrier, and with his preternaturally long 

 body and short bandy legs, developed by hereditary 

 scraping, is a quaint-looking little beggar. Like the 

 ant-eater of South Africa, he seems built for bur- 

 rowing, and as dachs is German for badger, he doubt- 

 less got his name from his feats in the badger- 

 holes. He is constantly to be seen at the heels of 

 keepers in the great German woods, but now is 

 generally used like our spaniels for hunting the 

 coverts, and especially in roe drives. The dachs- 

 hund is susceptible, and though game to the 



