THE AMERICAN FOXHOUND 17 



THE BUCKFIELD FOXHOUNDS. 



A. C. Heffenger, M. D., M. F. H. Brunswick Fur Club. 



The Buckfield foxhounds, the most distinctive family of the 

 breed in New England, originated in and around the town of 

 Buckfield, Me., from which they derived their name. About 

 fifteen years ago I hunted with many of these foxhounds in 

 different parts of Maine, and their fine work so interested me 

 that I made a special study of their history, and after many 

 personal trips and much letter writing obtained the followmg 



facts: 



About 1858 a peddler from Canada passed through Buckfield, 

 Maine, and had with him a cheap looking foxhound bitch. She 

 was blue and red mottled, with short ears, very coarse haired, 

 tail and hams well feathered, weighed about thirty or thirty-five 

 pounds, and looked as if she were a foxhound-and-Irish -setter 

 cross. Mr. Zipp Bobbins of Buckfield took a fancy to the bitch, 

 and bought her for a mere song. When taken out hunting, she 

 proved a veritable rough diamond, for she was a quick, sure 

 starter, using excellent judgement in taking a track, and drove 

 the fox fast, with very few faults from daylight till dark. She 

 had a quick, choppy bark, and gave tongue at every jump. 



At about the same time a tramp stopped at the house of the 

 Keen brothers, noted fox-liunters of Buckfield, Maine, having 

 with him a black, stump-tailed hound, supposed to be of English 

 breeding. The tramp and his hound left, but the latter re- 

 turned to the Keens, who kept him, thinking his owner would 

 return for him, which, however, he never did. Soon after this 

 the Keens started, one morning, on a hunt, taking their hounds, 

 the stump-tailed dog following. Upon reaching the hunting 

 ground, the tramp's hound went to work, started the fox, and 

 carried him all day in great form, completely outpointing the 

 other hounds. 



The Keens and Bobbins had a conference, and concluded to 

 breed the peddler's bitch to the tramp's dog. The bitch Skip 

 was very fast, but the dog Tige was slow, so that, though some 

 of the progeny were fast, most of them were of moderate speed. 

 Five puppies resulted from this mating— four dogs and a bitch. 

 The exact history of the dogs is not known, but the bitch was 

 bought by Mr. T. H. Gledhill, then living in Norway, Maine, 

 and he named her Bose. As this bitch became famous— was 



