THE OLD-TIME HAREHOUND 6i 



pursued stag and hare. The Talbot, Bloodhound, 

 and Southern hound were, in point of fact, of much 

 the same ancestry and possessed of the same charac- 

 teristics. The Talbot is described by some as a pied 

 hound, by others as white, while the bloodhound has, 

 so long, at all events, as it has been known to modern 

 folk, been invariably black and tan, the tan colouring 

 being considerably in the ascendant. The colour 

 of the Southern hound has been much debated, some 

 asserting that it was originally black and tan, while 

 others maintain that blue mottle was the true Southern 

 hound colour. Personally, after a good deal of re- 

 search, I am inclined to think that the old Southern 

 hound ran in many colours, black and tan, red, the 

 varied colouration which we now attribute to fox- 

 hounds, blue mottle, badger pie, hare pie, pure white, 

 and even slate colour. In Devon and Sussex, which 

 seem to have been always strongholds of the Southern 

 hound blood, blue mottle is still a very noticeable 

 colour in some of the best of the old harrier stock, 

 which owe their ancestry largely to the Southern 

 hound strain. Yet, even in far-away days, the fancies 

 of different owners led them at times to cling to a 

 particular colour and a particular strain. Mr. Baron 

 Webster, Master of the Haldon Harriers, which hunt 

 between Torquay, Paignton, and Exeter, tells me 

 that Mr. Webber's harrier pack, the predecessors 

 of the present Silverton Harriers, which for many 

 years hunted in this country, consisted entirely of 

 hounds of a slate-grey colour, or of the exact colour 

 of a hare. They were a very beautiful pack, level, 

 and of extremely ancient blood. Mr. Webster himself 

 has two or three hounds of this breed, which are hare- 

 pied or slate-grey, and he is endeavouring to re-establish 

 the ancient strain. 



