88 THE NEW FOREST 



days the combination of hunting and shooting 

 was almost unique, and sometimes I saw very in- 

 teresting hound work, while the general surround- 

 ings and the study of wild life of all kinds were 

 most delightful. 



I found my bloodhounds were too silent for 

 this work. Their note was deep and fine, but 

 only repeated at long intervals too long to enable 

 us to follow, at a distance, the direction of the 

 chase. I tried old-fashioned Southern hounds, and 

 had one or two very good ones, with as much 

 tongue as I could desire ; but they are soft, and 

 incorrigible in the vice of running heel. I have 

 actually seen them hunt a deer round to the gun, 

 and work up to where it was lying dead on the 

 ground, having been just shot, and, if they were 

 not quickly caught, turn round and run the old 

 line backward from the place they had just hunted 

 it up to, with their quarry lying dead before 

 them. 



But at last I got the very hounds I wanted 

 in that ancient Irish breed called "Kerry beagles." 

 Black and tan, and about 22 to 24 inches high, 

 they were as unlike " beagles " as any dog that 

 I ever saw. But they were very keen and active, 

 rather too fast, but mad to get hold of a deer, 

 and with a tongue you could hear for miles. 

 A first cross with the foxhounds produced a 



