The Beagle. 153 



inches. He has deep chops, broad, pendulous ears, 

 and when highly bred is hardly to be distinguished 

 from an indifferent bloodhound." The same author 

 further says they are used to hunt the deer, and that 

 there are two packs in the neighbourhood of 

 Killarney. 



I have made enquiries in various parts of Ireland, 

 as to the survival of the Kerry beagle and his present 

 whereabouts. One of the packs alluded to by 

 Richardson — that of Mr. Herbert, at Muckross — was 

 discontinued as long ago as 1847. These hounds 

 were twenty-six inches in height, most of them 

 black and tan in colour, some of them all tan. The 

 other pack alluded to by the same authority, that of 

 Mr. John O'Connell, at Grenagh, Killarney, was 

 dispersed at the same time, which was during the 

 distressful period of the great famine, when many 

 of the Irish gentry, almost ruined, were compelled, 

 under the Encumbered Estates Act, to sell their 

 family domains at an enormous sacrifice. I could 

 name more than one instance where a valuable 

 estate was sold for five years purchase ! The late 

 Mr. O'Connell's hounds, were likewise black and tan. 

 A few couples of these hounds were taken by Mr. 

 Maurice O'Connell's nephew to Mr. John O'Connell, 

 who kept them at Lake View, increasing his pack to 

 about twenty couples. In 1868 he, however. 



