SMOOTH GREYHOUND. 33 



thing in reality. Strong bony stifle-joints and hocks, with great 

 length between them and from the stifle to the hip, united with a 

 short leg, constitute the perfection of form in the hind quarter, if, 

 as is almost always the case, the muscles covering them are strong 

 enough to put them in action. 



The FORE QUARTER is composcd of the shoulder, the upper arm 

 (between it and the elbow), the fore-arm (below the elbow), the 

 knee, the leg, and the foot. The shoulder should be oblique, well 

 covered with muscles, and moving freely on the ribs, which it sel- 

 dom does if the two blades are kept wide apart at their upper 

 edges by the tub-like form of the chest, described under that head. 

 Hence we should examine, and anxiously look for, length of 

 shoulder-blade, which cannot exist without obliquity ; freedom of 

 play, without which the fore quarter is not protruded in the gallop 

 as it ought to be ; and muscular development to bear the shocks to 

 which this part is subject. The arm also should be long, so as to 

 raise the point of the shoulder high enough to make the blade lie 

 at an angle of 45° with the horizon, and to throw the elbow 

 well back to take the weight of the body. With regard to the 

 elbow itself, the joint must be placed in the same plane as the body ; 

 that is to say, the point of the elbow should not project either in- 

 wards or outwards. In the former case the feet are turned out, and 

 then there is a want of liberty in the play of the whole shoulder, 

 because the elbow rubs against the ribs, and interferes with the 

 action. This is called being " tied at the elbow," and is most care- 

 fully to be avoided in selecting the greyhound, as well as all other 



breeds. The arm should be straight, long, and well clothed with 



D 



