34 HUNTING DOGS. 



He will avoid blaming the dog with his own mis- 

 takes, and wisely refrain from trying to exact 

 from the dog what by physique and breeding he 

 was not intended by nature to do. 



How the modern fox hound descended from 

 the blood hound and the coon hound from the fox 

 hound is an interesting study of more or less 

 importance in striking an estimate of the coon 

 dog's prowess and abilities. It is not such a far 

 cry from the exciting man hunt of other days 

 to the coon hunt of the present. 



What we call the native American fox- 

 hounds are descended from dogs brought over 

 from PJngland, Ireland and France. The set- 

 tlers at Jamestown imported the hounds that 

 spread out over the southern frontier, originat- 

 ing the superb packs to be found throughout the 

 South to-day. 



The imported dog has never proven a good 

 performer in the chase, owing to very widely 

 different conditions encountered. His value has 

 been in cross breeding to give bone and substance 

 to native breeds. 



Says one authority : By selection and a dif- 

 ferent character of work, we have produced a 

 lighter, faster hound than the ancestral type. 

 Our hounds are required to go and search for a 

 fox. That quality has become instinctive in 



