CHAPTER V 



THE foxhound: essential features 



Pre-eminent in the kennel world stands the Fox- 

 hound, and there is no variety of dog that has been 

 preserved with greater care, regardless of expense, 

 than the hound now under consideration. As to 

 when these hounds were first used for fox-hunting 

 there is no rehable information, though volumes 

 have been written, directly or indirectly, concerned 

 with the breeding and the establishment of Foxhound 

 packs throughout the British Isles. Hounds of the 

 Foxhound type can be traced back to early on in the 

 sixteenth century, though the author is not aware 

 that they were then used for hunting the fox, but 

 hare-hunting is a very ancient form of sport. 

 Xenophon, who lived over 300 years B.C., has left 

 records that he indulged in this form of sport. In a 

 book written some time between 1406 and 14 13, 

 entitled The Master of the Game, the following 

 passage occurs: 



" The fox is a common beast, and therefore I need 

 not tell of his making, and there be few gentlemen 

 who have not seen some. He hath many such con- 

 ditions as the wolf, for the vixen of the fox bears as 

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