8 Modern Dogs. 



hounds ought to be chained up in the daytime in 

 dark places, so that they become bolder and more 

 courageous in following the felon in the ^' solitary 

 hours of darkness." He likewise describes them as 

 being run in a leash which is held in the hand of the 

 man in charge of the dogs. This was to enable the 

 huntsman, shall I call him, to be up with the hounds 

 when his services would be required. It seems from 

 the same writer, that, in addition to hunting the foot- 

 steps of the felon, these dogs were also trained to 

 hunt the cattle that might have been stolen, a 

 purpose for which he says they were much used on 

 the borders. This may have been so or not, most 

 Hkely the latter, for a drove of stolen cattle would be 

 easy enough to track without the aid of a keen 

 scenting '' slough dog," though he might be able to 

 be of assistance in terrorising the thief if he were 

 ambitious to try the strength and powers of his 

 would-be captor. 



From that period down to the present time, the 

 bloodhound was mostly kept as a companion, and 

 only occasionally has he been trained to '^ man- 

 hunting," to the terror of the poacher and the evil- 

 doer. For the latter purpose, he has proved of 

 great service, and many stories are told of the extra- 

 ordinary power a skilful hound may possess, through 

 its faculty in sticking to the original scent, however 



