The Borzoi or Russian Wolfhound. 323 



And really so much has appeared about this dog 

 since his popularisation in this country that is of 

 doubtful truth, care ought to be taken in what is 

 reproduced. 



One recent writer tells us that, even so far back as 

 1800, certain Borzoi of the Courland strain were sold 

 for from 7,000 to 10,000 roubles apiece, which, in 

 our money, cannot be computed at less than from 

 1000/. to 1500/. a head! No wonder that so valu- 

 able a hound has become extinct (on the principle 

 that the best always die), and it is interesting to 

 learn that, at a time when we in England were giving 

 50/. each or little more for our very best hounds, 

 more than twenty times that sum was being paid in 

 Russia for similar quadrupeds. 



Still the Borzoi always did flourish in the 

 dominions of the Czar, and the Imperial kennels at 

 St. Petersburg usually contain from fifty to sixty full 

 grown Borzois and almost as many puppies. There 

 are fourteen men kept to look after and to train them 

 to their proper work, and the nature of this I have 

 already stated. Whatever may be urged to the 

 contrary, it must further be said that, in pace and 

 general excellence for hare coursing purposes, this 

 Russian hound is far behind our own good grey- 

 hound ; but, as already stated, it is not our admira- 

 tion for him as a sporting dog which has made him 



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