The Bloodhound. 39 



will requite you for your trouble. He is gentle and 

 kind, less addicted to fighting than many other big 

 dogs ; he is sensible, cleanly, of noble aspect, and 

 in demeanour the aristocrat of hounds. 



Of course, there are ill-conditioned dogs of every 

 variety, but the average bloodhound will develop 

 into as good a companion as any other of his race ; 

 he may be shy at first, but kindness will improve 

 him in this respect. In hunting, he is slower than 

 the foxhound, but more painstaking than are the 

 members of the fashionable packs. He dwells on the 

 quest a considerable time, seemingly enjoying the 

 peculiar sensation he may derive through his olfac- 

 tory organs, and will cast on his own account ; the 

 latter, a faculty that ought not to be lost, though 

 in many hunting countries, where a good gallop 

 is considered more desirable than the observation of 

 hound work, the master or huntsman assists the 

 hounds, rather than allows them to assist themselves. 



The lovely voice the bloodhound possesses need 

 not be dilated upon by me, and moreover, he has a 

 power of transmitting that " melody" to his offspring 

 to an unusual extent. I fancy that our modern otter- 

 hound owes something of his melodious cry to some 

 not very remote crosses with the bloodhound ; and if I 

 mistake not, the late Major Cowen found this strain of 

 " Druids " useful in his well-known Braes o' Derwent 



