Welsh Hounds. 183 



the very best hounds he has in his pack — a work- 

 manlike lot, who can hunt hare and fox and otter, as 

 occasion requires, and do this three or four days a 

 week and turn out fresh and frisky at the end. One 

 of the stud hounds in the pack is Curfew, a son of 

 Lively's, who, although sired by an English hound, 

 has as much, or more, coat than his dam. He is a 

 fine fellow, about 21 inches in height, and can 

 drive hare or otter as well as any hound. Of the 

 Welsh hounds, Mr. Wynn says " they excel in work- 

 ing without assistance, and are seldom at a loss, 

 even when the huntsman is not with them, when they 

 overrun the line. When such is the case, they will 

 spread out like a fan, individually try here, there, 

 and everywhere, with the inevitable result that some 

 hound or another hits the missing line, speaks to it, 

 and other hounds, galloping up, do likewise. Then 

 they are away as brisk as ever ; there is no sitting 

 down and waiting about for assistance." As a matter 

 of fairness, I must state that all owners of Welsh 

 hounds do not speak in a similar strain. A well 

 known master, who owns a few couples, says that 

 where " there is one good hound there are fifty bad 

 ones — noisy, riotous, ugly, ill-conditioned brutes," and 

 this he ascribes to in-breeding. Most of the finest 

 hounds have, he says, degenerated in the matter of 

 bone and substance, and after three seasons' work 



