The Foxhound. 8i 



and they race into view. The young ones are 

 speediest at sight. But 'tis for Hector, the cup dog 

 of two summers ago, to grip and to hold. Fifty 

 minutes and a six mile point. Who-hoop ! my 

 beauties ! Every hound up. And the blood of 

 Belvoir Weathergage to be found in at least ten 

 couples." 



The largest packs of foxhounds are, as a rule, 

 divided into dogs and bitches, each sex running 

 separately and distinctly on different days. The 

 ''ladies," as they are mostly called, are said to be the 

 smarter in the field, and to possess dash and casting 

 powers in greater perfection than the ''dogs." In 

 some few of the big packs dogs and bitches are run 

 together, being matched according to size as nearly 

 as possible. The dog hounds are, of course, the 

 bigger of the two, and run from 23 to 24 inches at the 

 shoulder, the bitches being from one to tw^o inches or 

 so below that standard. One of the smallest pure 

 foxhounds that ever ran with hounds was the Blue 

 Ransom, of the Pytchley, and said to be about 17^ 

 inches, whilst the giant of the race, the Warwick- 

 shire Riddlesworth, was 27 inches. At the present 

 time our most extensive packs are the Blackmoor 

 Vale, with 90 couples of hounds ; the Badminton, 

 formerly the Duke of Beaufort's, 75 couples ; the 

 Belvoir, 64 couples ; the Puckeridge, 62 couples ; 



G 



