138 The Sporting Dog 



themselves for him that nearly every fine bitch in 

 the state was bred to him. Afterwards his de- 

 scendants were bred in-and-in, sometimes ruin- 

 ously close. Yet since inbreeding stamps the 

 characteristics of a family strongly, they make 

 fox-killers of the highest order. The Julys have 

 caught out most of the foxes in Georgia. They 

 hunt rapidly, trail rapidly, and run rapidly. They 

 do not take scent quite so readily as some others, 

 but make it up in fast hunting; and when they 

 strike, they move hurriedly on, catching in " here, 

 there, — and gone." They get close to a fox on 

 the jump, and press him in an amazing pace. 



This close inbreeding, I fear, especially in the 

 hands of the injudicious, has injured the stamina 

 and gameness of the strain a bit. But where they 

 have been in the hands of owners who displayed 

 judgment and discernment, they have been found 

 to be fox-catchers without peers. To those who 

 lay main stress upon such a termination in run- 

 ning foxes, these and the Triggs are preferred 

 above all others. 



The prevalent colors in this July-Birdsong fam- 

 ily are black and tan, with or without white points, 

 and reds, with or without white. This latter 

 marking is especially frequent among the direct 

 Julys, and the shades vary from deep red to pale 

 fawn. They are, also, more than often marked 

 with gray, — gray spots, gray borders, or sprinkled 



