232 THE BOOK OF THE DOG. 



longer Deerhounds. The Macedonian Dog a very powerful, smooth dog was also imported 

 by a member of my family without any better results ; and it is my conviction that the 

 race of Deerhounds can be improved only by careful selection and crossing different strains 

 of pure blood." 



The above remarks were shown to a friend of the writer who had given a full trial 

 to crossing for size, &c. He says : " I do not agree with Sir J. McNiel in all he says 

 I think with you that he did not continue his experiments far enough. Then, again, speed 

 was the element he aimed at chiefly, and it is not to be expected he would retain that 

 %vhen crossing with a slower dog." 



The writer has not the smallest doubt looking at the grand dogs we now possess 

 that the various crosses tried have in most instances profited very much the breed, which 

 had evidently fallen into a degenerate state forty to fifty years ago. He knows by ex- 

 perience that all trace of a cross disappears as a rule in the second or third generation, and 

 the dog has in every way the appearance and characteristics of a Deerhound proper. The 

 cross from Russian Wolfhound, judiciously used, has certainly imparted to the Deerhound a 

 degree of quality and certain blood-like look that the breed was fast losing, to say nothing 

 of the gain in the matter of symmetry that almost invariably accrues. 



It is a most noticeable and curious fact that the purer the breed is the more marked is the 

 disparity between the sexes in the Deerhound. Thus, if \.\\o pure bred dogs be used, the difference 

 between the sexes will vary from four to six inches in height ; whereas, if the female parent 

 be cross-bred and of large size, the difference between the males and females of the litter 

 will only be two inches, and, oddly enough, even if the bitch so bred shall vastly exceed 

 the truer bred one in size, the dog puppies from her by an equally fine dog will generally 

 in no way exceed in size those from the smaller but truer bred bitch. 



That size can more surely be obtained through the sire than through the dam is a fact 

 worth remembering. 



It is much to be regretted that the pedigrees of the prominent specimens of this breed 

 have not been retained, but there is little doubt but that most of our existing cracks can 

 claim them as their progenitors. In future there will be no trouble on this head, as the very 

 admirable stud-books established about 1870 will obviate this. 



Before concluding this article, the writer would strongly impress on all readers the 

 extreme desirability of retaining, by judicious care and cultivation, this, of all dogs (save 

 his undoubted progenitor the Irish Wolfhound), the most beautiful and picturesque, as well 

 as the most majestic and ornamental an animal to be loved and valued, and treated as a 

 friend, as he richly deserves to be in all but rare cases. 



The accompanying engraving, which so faithfully represents some Deerhounds on the 

 watch, is the work of the great German artist, Specht. Though the dogs do not quite come 

 up to modern ideas of show form in every minute particular, the artistic arrangement of the 

 group is to the life, and thoroughly conveys in all essential respects the character of the dog, 

 and what a Deerhound should be. 



The dog selected for the coloured plate is Mr. Morse's Spey, who may be taken as one of 

 the best specimens of the breed in existence, though not shown. She was nearly twelve years 

 old in January, 1880, when she scaled 73 Ibs., and measured as follows: From tip of nose to 

 stop, 4j inches; length from stop to occipital bone, 5f inches ; girth of skull behind the eyes, 

 15 inches; girth of neck, 15 inches; girth round shoulders, 30 inches; girth of loins, 2O\ inches; 



