14 THE GREYHOUND. 



If we go back to the earlier centuries of the history of 

 our country, we find the Greyhound used in pursuit of the 

 wolf, boar, deer, &c., in conjunction with other dogs of more 

 powerful build. Still, we can easily perceive that, to take a 

 share in such sports at all, he must have been probably 

 larger, certainly stronger, coarser, and more inured to hard- 

 ships, whilst he would not be kept so strictly to sight 

 hunting as the demands of the present require; but the 

 material out of which the present dog has been made was 

 there, and his form and characteristics, even to minute 

 detail, were recognised, and have been described with an 

 accuracy which no other breed of dogs has had the 

 advantage of, else might we be in a better position to 

 understand the value of claims for old descent set up for 

 so many varieties. And to these descriptions I propose to 

 refer, to endorse, as well as to make still more clear and 

 emphatic, the points of excellence recognised as correct by 

 modern followers of the leash. 



The whole group to which the Greyhound belongs is 

 distinguished by the elongated head; the parietal, side 

 and upper, or partition bones of the head, shelving in 

 towards each other; high, proportionate stature, deep chest, 

 arched loins, tucked-up flank, and long, fine tail; and such 

 general form as is outlined in this description is seen in 

 perfection in the Greyhound. To some it may sound con- 

 tradictory to speak in one sentence of elegance and beauty 

 of form, and in the next of a tucked-up flank; and Fox 

 Terrier and Mastiff men, who want their favourites well- 

 ribbed back, with deep loin, and flanks well filled, to make 

 a form as square as a prize Shorthorn, may object; but 

 we must remember, that beauty largely consists in fitness 



