THE GEEYHOUND. 117 



head is smaller, it is still in the same relative proportion to the whole body, which 

 is more neat and elegant also. No courser should omit to examine the teeth, 

 which require to be strong and long enough to hold the hare when taken." 



2. The neck (value 10) of the greyhound, in the old rhyme, was compared 

 to that of a drake, and of all the comparisons therein contained this is the nearest to 

 the truth. It certainly is not so long or so round as a drake's, but sometimes 

 approaches very nearly to it. This form will enable the greyhound to seize his game 

 while in full stride without losing his balance ; but I have known many good killers 

 with short necks, almost like that of a bull ; still, as a rule, a long neck is of great 

 importance, and should be well considered in selecting a cross. Too often the thick 

 compact form has also the bull neck ; but in some breeds, as in the Curler and 

 Vraye Foy family, which are very muscular, the neck is proportionally long. 



" The points I have been considering are not immediately connected with speed ; 

 but now I have to describe the framework by which locomotion is effected. It 

 must be apparent to anyone who watches the gallop, that its perfection depends 

 upon the power of extending the shoulders and fore legs as far as possible, as well 

 as of bringing the hind legs rapidly forward to give the propulsive stroke. Upon 

 the due relation between these two parts of the action everything depends ; and if 

 the one part is more perfect than the other that is to say, if the hind quarters are 

 well brought into action, while the shoulders do not thrust the forelegs well forward 

 the action is laboured and slow ; whilst, on the contrary, if the shoulders do their 

 duty, but the hind legs are not brought well forward, or do not thrust the body 

 onwards with sufficient force, the action may be elegant, but it is not powerful- and 

 rapid. For these various purposes, therefore, we require good shoulders, good 

 thighs, a good back, and good legs, and, lastly, for lodging the lungs and heart, 

 whose actions are essential to the maintenance of speed, a well-formed and capacious 

 chest." 



3. Chest and fore quarters (value 20). "With regard to the chest, there are 

 two things to be considered namely, capacity for the lodgment of the lungs and 

 heart, and the attainment of that form most conducive to speed and working. 

 It must not be too deep, or the animal is constantly striking it against obstacles ; 

 it must not be too wide, or the shoulders are unable to play smoothly upon it, as 

 they must do in the action of this quarter; but it must be of sufficient capacity 

 to lodge the heart and lungs. A just relation between these three counterbalancing 

 essentials is therefore the best form neither too small for good wind, nor too wide 

 for speed, nor too deep to keep free from, the irregularities of the ground, but that 

 happy medium which we see in our best specimens, and which the portraits of most 

 of our best dogs will exhibit to the eye of the courser. The shoulders must be so 

 formed as to thrust the forelegs well forward, and to do this the shoulder-blade 

 must be as oblique as possible. The reason for this is, that its muscles may be able 

 to exert their full power upon the true arm, in bringing it into a straight line with 

 the axis of the shoulder-blade. This alone is a great advantage ; but, by the greater 

 angle which it forms with the arm, it also enables the greyhound to bear the shock 

 of a fall upon his legs in coming down from a leap without injury, which is another 



