BEAGLES. 93 



throatiness. To this fulness of the throat may probabl)' be 

 attributed the fuller and more musical voice of the beagle, as 

 compared with that of the foxhound and modern harrier. The 

 eyes should be larger, fuller, and softer than those of the foxhound. 

 The ears should be hung on lower down, and be nearly long 

 enough to reach to the end of the nose. It is a mistake for 

 beagles to have ears of any greater length, as they get them so 

 terribly torn in a rough gorsy country and when they have to run 

 through coverts and thorn fences. I hear judges of beagles at 

 dog shows make a point of the longest ears possible, but these 

 animals are bred for the show-bench and not for work, and my 

 sincere hope is that the beagle will be bred for hunting and 

 not for show purposes. What we want to encourage at our 

 annual show at Peterborough is the breeding of beagles as 

 perfect as possible in make and shape for work : with neck as 

 above described ; with shoulders well sloped and not heavy — 

 for no hounds are of any use if defective in this respect, and 

 will soon show their weak point when hounds are running hard, 

 as they cannot run up ; with back quite straight to the stern ; 

 with good loins, well ribbed up and not flat-sided ; with stern the 

 same shape as that of a foxhound, and not coarse or very much 

 feathered. The legs in front should be as straight as you can 

 get them, but do not draft a beagle if he is not quite straight 

 and a bit back in the knees, because here is the difficulty of 

 this point as a standard^very few beagles are quite straight, 

 and their feet are hardly ever cat- shaped ; the hind legs should 

 be long from the hip to the hock, and short from the hock to 

 the foot. 



In the previous section of this chapter the hunting of a pack 

 of beagles has been so fully discussed that I can add nothing, 

 but advise the beginner to carry those instructions in his mind 

 when he first take? his pack out. If he wUl try to understand, 

 what his hounds are doing themselves, and leave them alone, 

 he will after a little experience learn more from observation 

 than books can teach him. Huntsmen who have hunted 

 hounds all their lives learn something fresh day after day. 



