122 THE DOGS OF THE BEITISH ISLANDS. 



drafted for speed until they are now able to go such pace as fits them for the 

 modern ideas of hunting, which demands a good gallop as the essential to sport. 

 Never having seen them, I can only form an opinion of them on second-hand 

 testimony, but it appears to me from this evidence that they only differ in colour 

 from Mr. Nevill's black tans, being in fact light and corky bloodhounds, and in 

 all probability derived from the same source. It is quite clear, from the series 

 of portraits published in the Field, three years ago, that in France a much greater 

 variety has been developed in the hound than in England, where the foxhound 

 has absorbed nearly all the others into its own capacious net. Even the harrier 

 is now very seldom met with pure, and the old-fashioned beagle is equally rare. 

 Patience is no longer a virtue cultivated by English sportsmen, by whom the dash 

 and forward cast of the foxhound are greatly preferred, to the careful puzzling 

 out of a cold scent on which our forefathers set so much value. Many good 

 sportsmen contend that a modern foxhound, even of the fastest strains, can make 

 out a cold scent as well as a bloodhound or a beagle, and that it is the change 

 in our farm management from that of former times which makes the existing 

 foxhound appear to have a worse nose than his predecessors. That there has been 

 such a change is indisputable in the corn districts, but in the grass lands at all 

 events during a wet season no such excuse can be made, and yet it is notorious 

 that after the lapse of a very few minutes there is now little chance of doing any 

 good with a fox, whereas a hundred years ago no huntsman would think of giving 

 up, if he was sure of the line a full hour after a fox had been viewed. All 

 the hounds pure and simple have heads of average size, long and broad noses, 

 and full pendulous ears. They all give tongue when on a scent, and their note 

 is musical, not like that of the terrier, shrill and squeaky. With the exception of 

 the otterhound and the Welsh harrier, which closely resemble one another, all our 

 modern hounds have stout coats, but their sterns show a fringe of hair underneath. 

 All carry their sterns " gaily," that is, with a considerable upward tendency, but 

 not curled over their backs beyond a right angle. With these characters in common, 

 I now proceed to distinguish each breed from the others. 



As the series of articles in the present edition of the "Dogs of the British 

 Islands" is confined to the description of existing varieties, I do not include 

 among them any of those which, though formerly common enough, are now extinct. 

 Consequently, no notice is taken of the Talbot, or of the old Southern hound. 



THE BLOODHOUND. 



The majestic head of this dog has frequently attracted the notice of the poetical 

 and pictorial artist, and, without doubt, he is deserving of it ; indeed, from this 

 point of view, he probably excels the whole animal creation as far as the greyhound 

 surpasses them in elegance of outline and grace of movement. It is somewhat 

 remarkable that these two attributes, so different in themselves, should be possessed 

 to this full extent by two members of -the canine race. The prefix "blood" has 

 been given to this hound in consequence of his being used to track deer and sheep 



