THE MODERN GREYHOUND. 29 



legs is apparent where such violent exertion is called for, 

 and the round, cat-like foot, is a necessity of speed : no 

 one would have the wheels of a fast-going gig made as 

 broad in the tyre as those of a four-ton waggon. The 

 soles are required hard and tough that they may stand 

 the wear and tear of rough ground and stony lanes, if 

 these have to be travelled over; the strong claws give the 

 dog purchase over the ground. 



The loins must be strong; a Greyhound weak there 

 might be fast for a spurt, but he would prove merely 

 flashy, being neither able to endure nor yet be good at 

 his turns. When Markham says, " short and strong fillets/' 

 he means the loin the term being used in speaking of the 

 horse not the fleshy part of the thigh, which the teim 

 might seem to indicate. The hips must be wide asunder, 

 and the hind legs straight as regards each other, "not 

 crompyng as of an oxe " that is, as we now express it, 

 not cow-hocked but they must be bent or sickle-hocked, 

 and the thighs with immense and well-developed muscle. 

 The same strength of muscular development is needed 

 as in the fore legs, and especially there should be no weak- 

 ness below the knee. The dog should stand rather wide 

 behind, and higher than before ; the slight width gives 

 additional propelling force, and the higher hind quarters 

 additional speed and power in racing up hill, as hares 

 invariably do, if they can, unless there is temptation of a 

 covert near, a fact quaintly expressed in the " Booke of 

 St. Alban's " : 



" Tell me, Maystre," quod the man, " what is the skyll 

 Why the Haare wolde so fayne renne against the hill ? " 

 Quod the Mayster, "For her legges be shorter before 

 Than behind ; that is the skyll thore." 



