THE ANGLER AND HUNTSMAN 153 



others swear by the great horn spoon that the coon hound is 

 nothing more than a fox hound trained on coons, and cite 

 us to the fact that it was the fox hound (and not the coon 

 hound) that was brought over to this country from across 

 the seas to chase Br'er Fox, intimating that some of those 

 brought over were found no account for that sly animal and 

 just naturally were used for coon as a last resort. This is 

 probably the truth, for it is a matter of record that the fox 

 hound was introduced into this country, whereas there is no 

 record of the coon hound ever having been introduced. 

 Therefore, as the fox hound and the coon hound vary but lit- 

 tle in general appearance (the fox hound only possessing 

 more racey and graceful lines) , it is natural to suppose that 

 the coon hound as constituted to-day is nothing more or less 

 than a fox hound, trained on coon. I cannot see any reason 

 in this fact why coon hound fanciers should object, as the 

 fox hound is as worthy a forbear as any dog on earth should 

 wish to have. 



It would be just as reasonable to say that the rabbit 

 hound is a distinct breed of dogs, as it would to say that the 

 coon hound is a distinct breed of dogs. In the opinion of 

 the writer, neither would be stating the fact, for even as the 

 rabbit hound comes from the fox hound stock, so does the 

 coon hound come from the fox hound stock, and we defy all 

 dog fanciers and others to show us our mistake. Of course, 

 in a certain sense the coon hound is a distinct breed, for it 

 will chase nothing but coon, even as the thoroughly trained 

 rabbit dog will chase nothing but rabbit. Of course a coon 

 hound may chase an opossum, but this little nocturnal fellow 

 is so much like the coon, we judge the scent is almost iden- 

 tical. Some coon hounds will chase any kind of varmint ; 

 they usually call these varmint dogs. Others, more thor- 

 oughly trained, will run nothing but coon or opossum. On 

 the other hand, a fox hound will sometimes run a rabbit, but 

 a thoroughly trained fox hound is supposed to run nothing 

 but a fox. 



