1 68 Cross Country with Horse and Hound 



Probably the bloodhound and the greyhound were used 

 together, each for the special work in which the other was 

 deficient, as a stalwart blind man might carry a cripple 

 who could see to guide him. It would therefore be a 

 natural step, since one hound could hunt only by sight and 

 the other only by scent, to cross them with a view to com- 

 bining the superior ability of each. Another bit of evi- 

 dence to be found in Cecil is the passage in which he says 

 the dogs were " crooked-lean, coarse-haired, with heavy 

 eyes and of a tan colour." This is the description neither of 

 a greyhound nor of a bloodhound, but of some cross-bred 

 animal of the two families, having the "crooked-lean" of 

 the greyhound type, with the " heavy eyes " and " tan 

 colour " of the bloodhound. But even if this evidence, 

 and more of the same sort, were entirely lacking, there are 

 most unmistakable traces in the English foxhound, as he 

 stands to-day, of a strong dash of the greyhound as well as 

 of the bloodhound ; compare the pictures opposite. 



The greyhound is described in a very old couplet which 

 comes as near being a description of an English foxhound 

 of to-day as would be a description of a contemporary 

 bloodhound. The " neck like a drake's," " back like a 

 beam," the great depth of chest, the shortness of the joints 

 below the knees and hocks, not to mention speed, undoubt- 

 edly are points common to the three species. English 

 breeders have not only preserved in the foxhound certain 

 distinguished features of the greyhound, but they have also 

 developed in him certain characteristics of conformation 

 peculiar to him and to no other family or race of dogs. It 

 is sufficient to mention the wonderful increase of bone, the 



