THE OTTER HOUND. 133 



on " good rivers " the appearance of an otter is the signal for a foray against 

 him with gun, trap, and spear. In Cumberland, Devonshire, and some parts of 

 Wales there are, however, many large brooks and embryo rivers, where the fish 

 run too small for good sport with the rod, and yet afford the otter sufficient food. 

 Here hunting him is prosecuted with great zest, and no one can possibly object to 

 such an amount of preservation as will not supply the adjacent districts with more 

 than a casual visitor, whose appearance is soon signalled to the master of the 

 nearest pack, and a short shrift is given him when once his " spraint " is discovered 

 there. It is alleged by many good sportsmen that the otter does little or no damage 

 to a fishery, but the above is the general impression among the angling fraternity. 



The otter hound is no doubt a lineal descendant of the southern hound, 

 with his coat roughened by a long process of selection and careful breeding. He 

 evidently has not been crossed with any breed other than hound, or he would have 

 lost some one or more of the characteristics peculiar to the hunting dog, either in 

 shape of body, length of ear, style of hunting, or tongue. In all these, qualities 

 he is a southern hound to the letter, with the addition of a rough coat, the history 

 of which is not known. In many cases a pure foxhound has been used with 

 success against the otter, and, as far as the mere hunting goes, he fulfils the task 

 set him admirably ; but it has usually been found that in a very short time the wet 

 tells on him, and he either becomes rheumatic or is attacked by disease of the chest 

 in some shape. It is not the long hair of the true otter hound which saves him 

 from these penalties, but the thick woolly under-coat, with which he is furnished for 

 the same purpose as in the colley and Dandy Dinmont terrier. He also strongly 

 resembles the southern hound in his style of hunting, which is low and slow, but 

 very sure, his nose being of the tenderest kind, and often owning an air bubble 

 or " vent " at the distance of some yards. Like him, he is apt to sit down o/n 

 his haunches and throw his tongue with delight at first touching on a scent, as 

 is shown in the engraving in a most characteristic manner. Subscription packs of 

 otter hounds are kept at Carlisle under the mastership of Mr. Carrick; in North- 

 umberland, near Morpeth, under Mr. A. Fenwick; and at Cockermouth, hunted 

 by a committee. In South Wales, Col. Pryse and Mr. Moore have each a pack; 

 while in England the Hon. Geoffrey Hill hunts the otter from his kennels at 

 Hawkeston, Salop, and Mr. Collier's from Culmstock, near Wellington. In the 

 west, Mr. Cheriton and Mr. Mildmay also pursue the sport. 



The points of the otter hound are like those of the bloodhound, except 

 as to the coat, which should be composed of hard and long hair, somewhat 

 rough in its lying, and mixed with a short, woolly under-coat, which serves 

 to keep the body warm even when wetted by long immersion. The colour 

 differs also in not being confined to black-and-tan or tan the former, however, 

 being often met with, as in the case of Mr. Carrier's Stanley, whose portrait 

 accompanies this article. This dog is of a grizzled black-and-tan colour, and of a 

 very fine shape both in head and body. He is by Mr. Carrick's Bingwood out 

 of Harrison's Glory, and took several first prizes at Glasgow, Birmingham, and 

 Nottingham in 1872-3. 



