THE INDAGATOR GROUP. 741 



for the delicacy of their scent, the pertinacity with which 

 they unravelled every maze of their prey, and the fine chorus 

 of their united voices, so delightful to the ear of the older 

 sportsmen of England. Time, however, and mixture of races, 

 continually modified the form and characters of these dogs. 

 They were rendered more swift, but with a loss of much of 

 the power of scent and patient habits of the older race. A 

 new method of hunting was introduced, and at length finally 

 established as the practice of the English hunting-field. In 

 place of tracking the game to its retreat by the trail, at an 

 early hour, and while yet the scent lay on the ground, the 

 dogs were at once taken to the cover, and the fox being un- 

 kennelled, he was run down by the combined power of scent 

 and speed. Instead of the chase being continued, hour after 

 hour, often from sunrise to noon, the modern chase is a short 

 and fiery gallop, rarely lasting, at its utmost speed, for more 

 than thirty or forty minutes. To this kind of chase, entirely 

 unlike that of any other country, the dogs have become 

 adapted in an eminent degree, and differ as much from the 

 former hounds of England as the modern greyhound from 

 the ancient deer-hound. 



The Fox-hound is not a peculiarly handsome dog, although, 

 knowing him to be suited to his uses, the eye of the sports- 

 man associates his form with symmetry and beauty. He is. 

 on a medium, from 22 to 24 inches high at the shoulder. 

 His muzzle is only moderately broad ; his ears are pendu- 

 lous without being very long ; his fur is smooth, and gene- 

 rally spotted with brown upon a white ground. He has great 

 power of speed, and we should say that he had also great 

 power of scent, did we not compare him with the race he. has 

 supplanted. He requires the restraint of careful discipline ; 

 and hence it is that English fox-hounds have never succeeded 

 in the hands of foreign masters. 



The term Harrier has been long employed in England to 

 designate the hunting dogs chiefly employed in the chase of 

 the Hare. It used to include different kinds of dogs, but 



