76 HUNTING. 



better and start breeding at once on his own account. He is 

 pretty sure to buy some curious specimens of the maimed, the 

 halt, and even the blind people don't sell their best hounds 

 but of one thing he may feel tolerably certain, that being so 

 many season hunters, they must have been good, or they would 

 not have been kept so long. He will get them as little related 

 to each other as may be, and in hunting he must at first take 

 his chance. Of all perplexing sciences commend us to harrier 

 breeding. Put a straight dog and a straight bitch together and 

 the litter is as likely as not to exhibit every shade of canine 

 deformity, whereas the progeny of a slack-loined dog and a 

 bandy-legged bitch may be as neat little fellows "as ever walked 

 the flags. Then, again, when the foxhound cross is remote, 

 wire-coats become very common, not that this is altogether a dis- 

 advantage, as it is a hardy, keen-scented sort, but the wiry ones 

 rather destroy the general smartness and uniformity of the 

 pack, and where the master is afraid of criticism he may object 

 to overhearing remarks about terriers and otter hounds at the 

 meet. But after all the main object is to show sport, and to 

 this end the most important thing is breeding for nose. Always 

 use a hound that can be depended upon on roads, especially 

 when roads are dry. He is a treasure, cherish him, and try to 

 reproduce him as often as possible, for in road work harriers 

 are apt to lose their heads, hurry each other, and act in a manner 

 entirely contrary to their usual nature ; it is wonderful how far 

 a hare will travel the highway if she be not headed, sometimes 

 for a mile or so at a time, meanwhile if there be no ' Mac- 

 adamite Mentor ' in the pack, the master suffers tortures as he 

 sees one hound after another whimpering in front ; he mistrusts 

 their jealousy, dares not stop \hemjusf yet, but has grave mis- 

 givings that Puss has turned off right or left some hundreds ot 

 yards back. 



If on the other hand he has an old (or young) 'smell- 

 well ' absolutely trustworthy over the stones and dust, he can trot 

 gaily along, feeling sure that so long as he hears that well-known 

 tongue his quarry has not diverged from the beaten track. 



