8o HARE-HUNTING AND HARRIERS 



In some cases I believe that the incessant effort by 

 admirers of the old stock to perpetuate their favourite 

 strain must necessarily react with unfortunate results. 

 In-and-in breeding is always to be discouraged, and 

 the lack of fresh blood must tell. This, I believe, has 

 a good deal to do with the bad points so often instanced 

 as characteristics of old harrier blood — I mean slack 

 loins, bad feet, poor thighs, and so forth. I am told 

 that the old Bexhill pack of harriers, maintained by 

 the Brook family for the best part of a century, had 

 become practically ruined by in-breeding. They were 

 largely of Southern hound blood, black and tan, with 

 a wonderful cry. On the death of Mr. A. J. Brook, 

 it was apparent that fresh blood was needed, and Lord 

 De La Warr introduced a bloodhound strain. There 

 was a good deal of prejudice against this variation, 

 but, after all, the bloodhound and Southern hound 

 were much of the same type and ancestry, and some 

 remedy had to be found. The present hounds are 

 certainly a really good hare-hunting pack, and pro- 

 bably kill more hares and more speedily than did their 

 predecessors. 



" Cross-bred Harriers " number fourteen in my list. 

 Nearly all harriers are now more or less cross-bred, 

 but these would probably partake much more of the 

 foxhound than of the old harrier. " Mixed packs," 

 numbering eight, indicate, in the majority of cases, 

 that the Master has been unable to get together the 

 requisite number of harrier or of dwarf foxhound 

 couples — whichever sort he has a preference for — and 

 therefore runs a mixed pack, some harriers, some 

 foxhounds, until he can suit himself. In starting a 

 new pack of harriers there is always a good deal of 

 difficulty in getting together what one wants. Some- 

 times a pack may be bought outright, in which case 



