VARIETIES OF THE DOG. 39 



kind for breed, to be given them by the Scotish Lords ; and yet not so 

 contented, they stole one belonging to the King from his keeper, being 

 more esteemed of him than all the others which he had about him. The 

 maister of the leash, being informed hereof, pursued after them that had 

 stolen the dog, thinking, indeed, to have taken him from them ; but they 

 not being to part with him fell at altercation, and at the end chanced to 

 strike the maister of the leash through with their horse spears, so that he 

 did die presently. Whereupon noise and crie being raised in the country 

 by his servantes, divers of the Scots, as they were going home from hunt- 

 ing, returned, and falling upon the Picts to revenge the death of their 

 fellow, there ensued a shrewed bickering betwixt them; so that of the 

 Scots there died three score gentlemen, besides a great number of the 

 commons, not one of them understanding what the matter meant. Of the 

 Picts there were about 100 slaine." 



Mr. H. D. Richardson describes a cross between the greyhound and 

 British bloodhound : " It is a tall muscular raw-boned dog, the ears far 

 larger, and more pendulous, than those of the greyhound or deer-hound. 

 The colour is generally black, or black and tan ; his muzzle and the tips 

 of the ears usually dark. He is exceedingly swift and fierce ; can pull 

 down a stag single-handed ; runs chiefly by sight, but will also occasion- 

 ally take up the scent. In point of scent, however, he is inferior to the 

 true deer-hound. This dog cannot take a turn readily, but often fails at 

 the double."* 



THE IRISH GREYHOUND. 



This dog differs from the Scotch, in having shorter and finer hair, of a 

 pale fawn colour, and pendent ears. It is, compared with the Scotch dog, 

 gentle and harmless, perhaps indolent, until roused. It is a larger dog 

 than the Scottish dog, some of them being full four feet in length, and 

 proportionately muscular. On this account, and also on account of their 

 determined spirit when roused, they were carefully preserved by some 

 Irish gentlemen. They were formerly used in hunting the wolf when 

 that animal infested the forests of Ireland. Mr. Bell says that the last 

 person who kept the pure breed was Lord Altamont, who in 1780 had 

 eight of them. b 



THE GASEHOUND, 



the agascBus of former times, was probably allied to, or connected with, 

 the Irish greyhound. It hunted entirely by sight, and, if its prey was lost 

 for a time, it could recover it by a singular distinguishing faculty. Should 

 the deer rejoin the herd, the dog would unerringly select him again from 

 all his companions : 



" Seest thou the gasehound how with glance severe 

 From the close herd he marks the destined deer?" c 



There is no dog possessed of this quality at present known in Europe ; 

 but the translator of Arrian thinks that it might be produced between the 

 Irish greyhound and the bloodhound. 



a Sportsman, vol. xi.p. 314. b Bell's British Quadrupeds, p. 241. 



c Tickell's Miscellanies. 



