BLOODHOUND.] VOV. MOUXTAIX, FT-RLD, AND FAlOr. [bloodhound. 



formerly known as St. Hubert's breod, and 

 was, perliaps tlio oldest of our slow hounds. 



THE HLOODllOUND. 

 Atnon^ the hounds of the " olden time" 

 was the Bloodhound, so celebrated for its ex- 

 quisite scent, and unwearied jiorseveranco ; 

 qualities which were taken advantui^e of, by j 

 training it, not only to tho chase of cranio, but 

 to tho pursuit of man. A true bloodhound 

 (and tlie pure blood is rare) stands about 

 ei£»ht-and-twenty inches in height, and is mus- 

 cular, compact, and strong. The forehead is 

 broad, and the face narrow towards tiie imizzlo ; 

 the nostrils are wide, and well developed ; the 

 ears are large, pendulous, and broad at the 

 base ; the aspect is serene and sagacious ; the 

 tail is long, with an upward curve when in 

 pursuit, at which time the hound opens with a 

 voice deep and sonorous, that may be heard 

 down the wind for a very long distance. 



The colour of the true breed is stated to be 

 almost invariably a reddish tan, darkening 

 gradually towards the upper parts, till it be- 

 comes mixed with the black on the back ; the 

 lower parts, limbs, and tail being of a lighter 

 shade, and the muzzle tawny. Pennant adds, 

 " a black spot over each eye ;" but some blood- 

 hounds, which were said to have been of 

 the original blood, had not these marks. Some 

 — but such instances were not common — had 

 a little white about them, such as a star in the 

 face, &c. The better opinion is, that the origi- 

 nal stock was a mixture of the deep-mouthed 

 Southern hound, and the powerful old English 

 stag-hound. 



Our ancestors soon discovered the infallibility 

 of the bloodhound in tracing any animal, living 

 or dead, to its resting-place. To train it, the 

 young dog, accompanied by a staunch old 

 hound, was led to the spot whence a deer, or 

 other animal, had been taken on for a mile or 

 two. The hounds were then laid on and en- 

 couraged, and, after hunting this " drag" suc- 

 cessfully, were rewarded with a portion of the 

 venison which composed it. The next step 

 was to take the young dog, with his seasoned 

 tutor, to a spot whence a man, whose shoes had 

 been rubbed with the blood of a deer, bad 

 started on a circuit of two or three miles. 

 During his progress, the man was instructed 

 to renew the blood from time to time, to keep 



tho Hcont well alive. His circuit was gradually 

 enlarged at each succeeding lesson ; and the 

 young hound, thus entered and trained, became, 

 at last, fully eiiuul to hunt by itself, either Jbr 

 tho jjurpose of woodcraft, war, or " following 

 gear," as tho pursuit after the property plun- 

 dered in a border foray was termed. . 



Laid on the track of a marauder, it kept up 

 a steady, jjersevering chase, and was not baflled 

 without dilliculty. Sir Walter Scott, in his 

 graphic description of the " stark moss- 

 trooper," Sir AVilliara of Deloraine, "good at 

 need," gives, as a proof of his merit, that he 

 " By wily turns and desperate bounds 

 Had baflled Percy's best bloodhounds." 



And the same accomplished knight, his stern 

 nature touched by sorrow at the sight of Sir 

 E-ichard Musgrave slain, thus eulogises his 

 dead enemy : — 



" Yet rest thee God ! for well I know 

 I ne'er shall find a nobler foe. 

 In all the northern countries here, 

 Whose word is snaffle, spur, and spear, 

 Thou wert the best to follow gear. 

 'Twas pleasure, as we look'd behind, 

 To see how thou the chase couldst wind, 

 Cheer the dark bloodhound on his way, 

 And with the bugle rouse the fray, 

 I'd give the lands of Deloraine, 

 Dark Musgrave were alive again." 



Sir Walter Scott states that the breed of 

 bloodhounds was kept up by the Buccicuch 

 family on their border estates till within the 

 eighteenth century. In former ages, these 

 dogs, or, as the Scotch called them, " Sleuth- 

 hounds," were kept in great numbers on the 

 borders ; and fugitive kings, as well as moss- 

 troopers, were obliged to study how to evade 

 them. Eobert Bruce was repeatedly tracked 

 by them, and, on one occasion, only escaped by 

 wading for a considerable distance up a broolc, 

 and climbing a tree which overhung the water. 

 " Rycht to the burn thai passyt ware. 



But the sleuth-hound made slanting there, 



And wavcryt lang time ta and fra, 



That he na certain gait couth ga ; 



Till at the last John of Lorn, 



Perscuvit the Hund the sleuth had borne." 

 T/ie Bruce, Book VIII. 

 "A sure way of stopping the dog," says Sir 

 Walter Scott, in a note to the Lay of the 

 Last Minstrel, " was to spill blood upon the 

 track, which destroyed the discriminating fine- 

 ness of the scent. A captive was sometimes 



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