The Beagle. 137 



file, and thus to carry a very narrow line of scent, if 

 they threw it up it was but for a moment. Mr. 

 Crane's standard is 9in., and every little hound is 

 absolutely perfect. I saw but one hound at all 

 differing from his companions, a little black-tanned 

 one. This one on the flags we should have drafted, 

 but when we saw him in his work we quite forgave 

 him for being of a conspicuous colour. Giant was 

 perhaps the very best of the pack, a black- white- 

 and-tanned dog hound, always at work, and never 

 wrong. He had a capital tongue, and plenty oi it. 

 A bitch, Lily, had the most beautiful points. She is 

 nearly all white, as her name implies. Damper, 

 Dutchman, Tyrant, are also all of them beautiful 

 models. The measurement of Damper was : Height, 

 gin.; round the chest, i6in. ; across the ears, I2in.; 

 extreme length, 2ft. 4in. ; eye to nose, 2-|-in. Mr. 

 Crane's standard is kept up with great difficulty. 

 He has reduced the beagle to a minimum. Many 

 of the mothers do not rear their offspring, and 

 distemper carries them off in troops. Single 

 specimens may occasionally be found excessively 

 dwarfed and proportionately deformed. These 

 hounds would perhaps be wanting in nose or intel- 

 ligence if they could be produced in sufficient 

 force to form a pack ; but Mr. Crane's are all 

 models of symmetry and power, and are as accom- 



