DOMESTIC DOGS. 



531 



the ears and legs ; while the tail is mostly but thinly fringed. The profile of 

 the face is but slightly concave, and the muzzle relatively long and deep, with a 

 more or less marked overlapping of the upper lip. With the exception of the 

 pointer, they hunt by " foot-scent." 



The most sti-iking and characteristic feature of the bloodhound is its magni- 

 ficent head, which is considerably larger and heavier in the male than in the 

 female. While generally extremely massive, the head is remarkable for its 

 narrowness between the ears, where it rises into a dome-like prominence, termin- 

 ating in a marked protuberance in the occipital region. The skin of the forehead, 

 like that round the ej'es, is thrown into a series of transverse puckers, as is well 

 shown in the recumbent figure of our illustration. The long and tapering jaws are 



BLOODHOOSDS (j'j nat. size). 



of great depth but relatively narrow, and abruptly truncated in front ; while the 

 upper lips are pendulous. The large and thin ears should hang close to the 

 cheeks ; and the small and deeply-sunk hazel eyes are characterised by the 

 exposure of a considerable part of the membrane of the socket, which is generally 

 red, and is technically known as the Imw. The throat is heavy, and passes down- 

 wards into a more or less well-marked dew-lap. In the English breed the tail is 

 slightly fringed with hair, although in our figured example it is quite smooth ; it 

 should be carried in a curve, but not raised above a right angle with the line of 

 the back. The short coat should be coarse and hard on the back and sides, but 

 soft and silky on the head and ears. The most esteemed coloration is black-and- 

 tan, but tlie animal may be all tan ; tlie presence of white being a blemish. Our 

 illustration is taken from a foreign strain of the bloodhound, which is lower on its 

 legs than the English breed. 



