i TO Modern Dogs. 



And it was " Ragman " who never told a lie can 

 I call him a canine George Washington without dis- 

 paragement to America's great president? I have 

 seen foxhounds well entered to the otter, but the 

 rough hounds were always first to own a stale drag. 

 The latter are so much more staid and steady when 

 past their puppyhood ; know their work so well, 

 appear to enjoy it too, and take to hunting their 

 favoured game at quite an early age. 



It is told of the Rev. John Russell, the great 

 Devonshire sportsman, that, desirous of having a 

 pack of hounds to hunt the otter, he endeavoured to 

 make one. He said he followed the rivers for two 

 seasons, during which he walked upwards of three 

 thousand miles, and never found an otter, although he 

 says " he must have passed scores, and he might as 

 well have searched for a moose deer." No doubt; 

 but Russell had foxhounds that had been entered 

 to fox. Now, with even a lot of otterhound puppies 

 quite unentered, he would not have had such long 

 and fruitless journeys; they would have soon hunted 

 something, and if now and then they had run riot on 

 a water rat, a moor hen, or a rabbit, they would 

 have struck the scent of an otter before very long 

 i.e., if such game were plentiful in the district. 



My early experience of otter hunting was much 

 sooner consummated than that of the Devonshire 



