CHAPTER VI 



A GLANCE AT THE EVOLUTION OF A FOXHOUND 



By J. Fairfax Blakeborough 



*' On the straightest of legs and the roundest of feet, 

 With ribs like a frigate his timbers to meet, 

 With fashion and fling and a form so complete, 

 That to see him dance over the flags is a treat." 



A STORY is told to the effect that the Rev. " Jack 

 Russell," of Devonshire venatic fame, was once asked 

 if he considered the Foxhound a distinct species of 

 dog from the first. Lord Carrington, who was 

 present, endeavoured to simplify the question by 

 adding to it, and said, " Did he, in fact, come out 

 of the ark? " Russell quite spontaneously replied, 

 " How could he? Did not a brace of foxes come out 

 alive? " The question of the evolution of sporting 

 dogs, under which category the Foxhound, of course, 

 comes, is an interesting one, but it creates so great a 

 number of side-issue questions that a large volume 

 would not contain all the data and theory which has 

 been propounded from the day of Turbervile to 

 Somervile and on to the present day. To even 

 glance cursorily at the evolution necessitates also 

 a very clear and definite facing of the question of 

 instinct and reason, and a line of demarcation fixing 



