24 THE AMERICAN FOXHOUND 



Byron passed into the kennels of Col. Tucker, and the Tuckers 

 and Starkes bred the strain for many years. Byron became 

 famous all over the South, was bred to bitches from many 

 states, and his fame caused the strain to take his name. He was 

 a pale black and tan, with a small white streak down his face ; 

 his coat was coarse, tail bushed and ear short. In fact he was 

 much like some of the July or Irish hounds of the present day ; 

 and as Virginia contained a large number of Irish hounds at 

 that time, taken there from Gov. Ogle's Maryland pack, it is 

 probable that Forester, Byron's grandsire, was a pure Irish 

 hound. 



Byron had all the characteristics of a high-class foxhound, for 

 his speed, powers of endurance and perseverance were unsur- 

 passed by any one hound ; and he became still more noted as a 

 strike dog as he grew older. Col. John Tucker used to say that 

 if a dozen packs had been brought together, Byron would get 

 the strike from them all. 



Rattler II took after his grandam on his sire's side, for he was 

 indigo blue, with fine coat and smooth tail. Byron, Rattler II 

 and their sister, Music, were the progenitors of the Byron 

 strain. The peculiarities of the strain were — taking to the fox 

 at an early age, dash, energy, fox sense, long distance striking, 

 endurance, and being easily corrected for bad liabits. 



After Col. Starke's death the Tuckers gathered all the best 

 Byron hounds in their kennels, and by careful breeding kept up 

 the high standard of the strain. These hounds, though very 

 fast at first, liad tlieir speed increased by the judicious crossings 

 of the Tuckers. When Thomas Goode Tucker moved from Vir- 

 ginia to Gaston, N. C, he took these liounds witJi liim and bred 

 them there until his death, when they were bought by Dr. 

 Capehart, of Avoca, N. C. They were run in Avoca for a few 

 years, and then advertised by their new owner and sold to the 

 four comers of the country. The purity of their blood will soon 

 be a thing of the past; and all that will be left will be a 

 sprinkling here and there, as their new owners cross them on all 

 sorts and conditions of hounds in their respective localities. 



I have seen several of the pure breed, and owned one. They 

 were great hunters, made marvelously long body-scent strikes, 

 and ran a fox like a wliirlwind; but they were not tough, their 

 feet not being close and round enough to stand New England ice 

 and crust. 



