PREFACE. 



The absence of a book on the American Foxhound, devoted to 

 the notable strains in all parts of the country, and the wide- 

 spread and increasing interest and popularity of the breed, has 

 induced the publisher, with the generous aid of some of our best 

 known foxliound men, to compile and place a work at the dis- 

 posal of the hunting world embodying not only the ideas of indi- 

 vidual hunting men, but concrete facts, the consensus of opinion 

 of the entire American field. 



The breeding and hunting of foxliounds by the sportsmen of 

 America dates from the earliest settlement of the continent, but 

 it has been done individually, resulting in the development of 

 many excellent stmins peculiarly adapted to the section of the 

 country hunted, and histories of these strains from able pens 

 have been secured. The work, however, of harmonizing them 

 and typifying and standardizing an ideal foxhound properly 

 qualified for the varying needs of the country at large was left 

 to the National Foxhunters' Association and the Brunswick 

 Foxliound Club. Both of tliese clubs hold annual foxliound field 

 trials, and the same system of judging is used to obtain uni- 

 formity of opinion. The annual hound show of the Brunswick 

 Foxliound Club is the only one in the country, and sets the 

 standard for the American Kennel Club shows, so that from 

 Boston to San Francisco the same type wins. 



It is all these facts we have striven to lay before our hunting 

 readers, to assist them in breeding, training, hunting and 

 showing the up-to-date American Foxhound; and if we have 

 succeeded in any degree, we will be more than compensated for 

 the labor of compilation. 

 Spring Valley, Wisconsin, October, 1905. 



THURSTON J. ROSTAD. 



