516 Modern Dogs. 



by purchase Champion Forester, such a trio as 

 Paris, Xena, and Isola would make the reputation 

 of any kennel. Starting, as Mrs. Ellis did, in such 

 a humble way, it only proves what can be done by 

 sheer perseverance, and, if I may say so, a singular 

 capacity for successful mating of hounds, the 

 progeny of such unions producing animals of the 

 highest type. At the time when Mrs. Ellis had not 

 only the above, but Champion Psyche, Champion 

 Forester, and others, it is manifest her kennel 

 was invincible. Towards the close of 1892 it was 

 rumoured that her hounds would be no longer 

 at the service of the public. Had this rumour 

 proved correct it is difficult to say exactly what 

 it would have meant to the breeders of Basset 

 hounds, for, if we except Mr. Lord and Mr. Musson, 

 no one has a single dog fit to take the place of 

 champions Forester and Paris. That the public 

 know this is seen in the fact that, with two ex- 

 ceptions, every new face of merit seen on the 

 benches in 1892 was sired by these two hounds. 



" I shall say but a few words concerning the Lane 

 hounds, as they are now in their purity extinct 

 in this country. Like the Le Couteulx, they were 

 started by the gentleman whose name they bear, 

 Mons. Lane, of Francqueville, near Boos. They are 

 as a race bigger and heavier than the Le Couteulx, 



