86 Modern Dogs. 



pure harriers, though useful hounds that have 

 to hunt and find for themselves, and surmount u the 

 dark brow of the mighty Helvellyn " often enough 

 when the meet lies near the foot of the mountain 

 at Wythburn. Heavy hounds would no more do for 

 hunting the hares here than they would do for 

 killing foxes. And with those little hounds of 

 Colonel Ridehalgh the runs are longer and actually 

 more interesting than they usually are with bigger 

 and, therefore, speedier hounds. 



There are something like one hundred and ten 

 packs of hounds hunting the hare in England, less 

 than half a score in Scotland, and about twenty- 

 five in Ireland. The standards of their height vary 

 very much indeed, from the 23 inches of the Eden- 

 bridge to the 1 6 inches of the Windermere pack 

 already named. Some are called pure harriers that 

 have little claim to the name, others bear a variety 

 of appellations which signify " cross-bred." But 

 the harrier in his purity is difficult to obtain ; he 

 should not exceed about 19 inches in height, and, 

 as a rule, his skull is broader and thicker in pro- 

 portion to the width of the muzzle than is the case 

 with the foxhound. The harrier is oftener coarser 

 in his coat than the foxhound, which may be 

 ascribed to crossing with a rough Welsh hound that 

 I believe is still to be found in some parts of the 



