THE INDAGATOR GROUP. 743 



records of the chase, and was probably introduced by the 

 Romans. It was employed in the pursuit of rabbits and 

 hares. It has a large head, long ears, and a shrill voice, 

 which it uses in concert with its fellows. When in packs, 

 these little dogs are wild, active, and pertinacious in pursuit, 

 threading every maze of the game, and running with their 

 muzzles close to the ground. They are now very rarely to 

 be seen, the habits of sportsmen leading them to prefer 

 the more decisive practice of the modern chase. But 'it may 

 be questioned whether much of the real enjoyment of the 

 hunting-field is not lost to the people of the country by this 

 change of tastes and habits. Every one cannot maintain a 

 pack of harriers, and few are equal to the desperate riding 

 which the modern fox-chase requires. But the squire of 

 another age could enjoy the chase of his little pack of har- 

 riers or beagles without too great a sacrifice. His own 

 saddle-horse was sufficient for the slow and temperate chase, 

 which afforded him a cheerful recreati6n ; and John the 

 butler, or Tom the groom, enacted sufficiently the parts of 

 huntsman or whipper-in. 



II. THE MUTE HOUND, comprehending the ptrayovreg of 

 the Greeks, the Canes taciti and ductores of the Latins, in- 

 cluded races of dogs differing from one another, yet agree- 

 ing in the common property of running silently upon their 

 game. Of this class of dogs was the Lyemmer, Lymer or 

 Lyme -hound of the English, so named, it is supposed, from 

 Lyam, a leash, by which the dogs were conducted to the 

 field. It included the dogs more especially employed by the 

 fowler for capturing birds by means of nets and other de- 

 vices, and it comprehends, accordingly, the modern Pointer 

 and its congeners. 



The Pointer does not differ essentially in his characters 

 from common hounds ; and it may be supposed that almost any 

 race of the Indagator group, trained especially for scenting 

 the game in silence, and stopping on approaching it, would 



