i6o Modern Dogs. 



put his nose to the ground, sniff about a little, and, 

 if the otter has been at that spot even for only half 

 a minute, that hound will throw up his head and, in 

 a solo so sweet to the ears of a hunter, let all know 

 that he is on the line. 



And it was ^' Ragman " who never told a lie — can 

 I call him a canine George Washington, without dis- 

 paragement to America's great president ? I have 

 seen foxhounds well entered to the otter, but the 

 rough hounds were always first to own a stale drag. 

 The latter are so much more staid and steady when 

 past their puppyhood ; know their work so well, 

 appear to enjoy it too, and take to hunting their 

 favoured game at quite an early age. 



It is stated of the Rev. John Russell, the great 

 Devonshire sportsman, that, desirous of having a 

 pack of hounds to hunt the otter, he endeavoured to 

 make one. He said he followed the rivers for two 

 seasons, during which he walked upwards of three 

 thousand miles, and never found an otter, although 

 he says *' he must have passed scores, and he might 

 as well have searched for a moose deer." No doubt 

 the popular clergyman's foxhounds had been entered 

 to fox. Now, with even a lot of otter hound puppies 

 quite unentered, he would not have had such long 

 and fruitless journeys ; they would soon have hunted 

 something, and if now and then they had run riot on 



