NOTITIA VENATICA. 25 



same time remarkably clever. Being too large for the pack, he was sent 

 to Mr. Horlock, in exchange for a couple of hitches, where he turned 

 out Avell, and has since become a stud hound. The smallest hound I 

 can remember to have ever seen, in any established pack of fox-hounds, 

 was Little Blue Ransom, in the Pytchley kennel, bred by Mr. Grantley 

 Berkeley, and included in the lot bought of that gentleman by Mr. 

 Wilkins, when he took the Northamptonshire country. I saw her 

 measured at Brixworth, and her height, if my memory does not fail me, 

 was seventeen inches and a quarter. She was a perfect curiosity, and 

 her extraordinary appearance was rendered more remarkable by having 

 her right ear stuck bolt upright, from an injury received by a kick from 

 a horse. She was a great favourite both at home and in the field, and 

 was one of the most inveterate devils on a fox that ever was cheered. 

 What curious names some hounds are distinguished by ! Sir John 

 Cope's list, however, beats everything I ever met with in my life, with 

 regard to imique nomenclature. The worthy baronet must have drawn 

 very deep, before he found some of those beautiful specimens of jaw- 

 distorters. I have been told that he never, on any account, admits a 

 name into the list that has ever been used before in the kennel. The 

 late Lord Middleton was as curious in naming young whippers-in as Sir 

 John Cope is in christening his hounds ; and upon one memorable oc- 

 casion, when he stood sponsor in person to two sons, tirAns, of old Tom 

 Smith, his lordship's first whip, he insisted upon the lads being called 

 Romulus and Remus, after a couple of his lordship's favourite hounds. 

 After Christmas, such bitches as you may intend to breed from should, 

 on their coming on heat, be immediately put to the dog, and on no ac- 

 count should they be suffered to go to work again that season ; no. bitch 

 should be put-to after the first week in April, nor would I put one to 

 later than the middle of Mai'ch — late puppies seldom do much good. 

 Before the breeding season commences, care should be taken to have 

 every convenience in readiness for the comfort of the bitches. Under 

 the south-side (if possible) of one of the paddocks should be placed, at 

 certain distances, numerous roomy dog-cubs, with small separate en- 

 closures attached to each, made with hurdles, resembling sheets of 

 paling in miniature ; the bars being nailed on perpendicularly, renders 

 it more difficult for the puppies to climb over, than when they are 

 placed horizontally. Hither should be brought each dam, a few days 

 after she has produced, and her whelps have acquired a little strength. 

 When the bitches become heavy, they should be shut up at night sepa- 

 rately, in dry, warm places, made for the purpose, where they can be 

 kept very quiet ; here they may be allowed to whelp, and on no account 

 should their puppies be looked at or handled until some hours after they 

 have come into the world : It is a bad plan to allow them much straw, 

 as when the htter is too abundant, particularly when long, it is apt to 

 get twisted round the necks of the puppies, and strangle them. Wher 

 wet nurses are used, they should be of the same period, as the milk of 

 bitches cannot be made to endure like that of cows and some other ani- 

 mals. Three are quite sufficient for a mother to suckle that is a mode- 

 rate nurse ; but a good stout bitch, with abundance of milk, will 



