HUNTING THE FOX 95 



using him. His pedigree may be spotless, and 

 the risk may seem a very small one, but his very 

 brilliancy, fortified by a stroke or two of good luck, 

 may very easily make him conceited and develop 

 in his character vices that may be transmitted to 

 his descendants with disastrous effects to the pack. 

 Perhaps he may contain in his disposition all the 

 latent faults of his otherwise illustrious progenitors, 

 so that to breed from him too early in his career, 

 until these faults have had a chance of declaring 

 themselves, is an offence against the principle of 

 selection which is the secret of true breeding. 

 Some breeders may say that we have now arrived 

 at an era in the breeding of Foxhounds when all 

 pedigrees contain the same strains, so that par- 

 ticular selection need not be so carefully studied. 

 This argument pushed to its extremity would seem 

 to convey that Foxhounds can be produced in- 

 discriminately like guinea-pigs. Be this as it may, 

 nothing can ever alter the fact that some Hounds 

 are better than others, and that, while no bitch 

 should be kept who is not worth breeding from, 

 too much trouble cannot be taken in the choice 

 of a sire. It is well to study constitution in mating 

 Foxhounds. Given of course tongue, speed, and 

 steadiness, constitution is the most important 

 thing of all. Some very highly-bred strains seem 

 to develop feeble constitutions ; it is therefore 

 wise to resist the temptation of using a sire because 



