54 LEWIS'S AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



THE HOUND. 



What may be called the foxhound is the hound most commonly 

 used in this country. We say may be called, because he resembles 

 the foxhound more closely than any other variety ; yet from the fact 

 that he is seldom purely bred, and also that he is as often used for 

 hare- as for fox-hunting, and even for deer-driving, he cannot with 

 propriety be said to belong absolutely to any one class. Beagles have 

 been imported and appear in force at shows, but are comparatively 

 little employed in the field. So too other varieties have a few rep- 

 resentatives, but as the present work is confined to dogs commonly 

 used in our field-sports, we are justified by circumstances in con- 

 sidering the foxhound the most general representative of the dogs 

 used for " pursuing" by American sportsmen. 



The points of the foxhound are, 



"The head (value 15) should be of full size, but by no means 

 heavy. Brow pronounced, but not high or sharp. There must be 

 a good length and breadth, sufficient to give in the doghound a girth 

 in front of the ears of fully sixteen inches. The nose should be 

 long (four and one-half inches) and wide, with open nostrils. Ears 

 set on low and lying close to the cheeks. 



" The neck (value 5) must be long and clean, without the slightest 

 throatiness. It should taper nicely from the shoulders to the head, 

 and the upper outline should be slightly convex. 



" The shoulders (value 10) should be long and well clothed with 

 muscle, without being heavy, especially at the points. They must 

 be well sloped, and the true arm between the front and the elbow 

 must be long and muscular, but free from fat or lumber. 



" Chest and back ribs (value 10). The chest should girth over 

 thirty inches in a twenty-four-inch hound, and the back ribs must 

 be very deep. 



"The back and loin (value 10) must both be very muscular, run- 

 ning into each other without any contraction or ' nipping' between 

 them. The couples must be wide even to ragged ness, and there 



