176 THE DOGS OF THE BEITISH ISLANDS. 



strains of the pure mastiff, and his good qualities are quite as much derived from 

 them as from the bull strain in him. His great-granddam, Mr. Lukey's Countess, 

 had a longer and more muscular body than he has, and his head and muzzle are 

 not one whit fuller than any of Mr. Lukey's old strain ; while Baron, his son, who 

 is the result of another cross with the old strain, has, I think, a slightly fuller 

 head than he himself. His ears also are more probably inherited from his great- 

 granddam Countess than from the bull cross. The only effects produced by the 

 latter are the under jaw slightly underhung, a full prominent eye, short muzzle, 

 and square forehead. The two first are objectionable, and the two latter produce 

 certain illusive effects on the eye. The shortness of the muzzle makes it look 

 broader than it really is, and the squareness of the forehead makes that part look 

 fuller. These latter so far are advantages, but mastiff critics should remember that 

 the effects produced by them are more apparent than real. Thus Turk's square 

 forehead measures no more round in proportion to his size than does Druid's ; and 

 yet, while the eye can detect no great fault in Turk's head, the want of breadth 

 in Druid's is evident at once. So also the contrast of a strongly-marked muzzle 

 with the rest of the head makes it look fuller than it really is. While on this 

 subject, I may as well notice another effect. Some of the correspondents in the 

 Field have written of Druid as having a narrow and pointed muzzle. If, however, 

 they measure the girth of his muzzle and that of King's, they will find that they 

 are in the same proportion as the relative sizes of the two dogs, while Druid's 

 muzzle is actually more truncated than King's, and as much so as Baron's ; but 

 let the owner of Druid slightly lift the skin on each side of his dog's head, so as to 

 give the forehead an appearance of greater breadth, and the supposed faults in the 

 muzzle will at once disappear. So deceptive are these little tricks of effect, that I 

 never depend on my eye alone, but always assist my judgment with the tape. The 

 fact that in the particular case of King the bull cross has had no very decided effect 

 need not prove an objection to that cross, unless it can be shown that the bulldog 

 used was the best of his class. For there are " bulldogs and bulldogs ; " and it is 

 only in the best specimens that the head will measure more round in proportion to 

 their size than the heads of well-bred mastiffs, the squareness of forehead and 

 shortness of muzzle in the bulldog contributing to make their heads look larger 

 and fuller in proportion to their size than they really are. From what I know of 

 the strain from which the bull cross in King came, I expect that his bulldog 

 ancestor was not of the largest-headed type. But take such a dog as Bill George's 

 Young Dan, whose head measures 20^in. round, and who stands 22in. at the 

 shoulder. If he stood 32in., the height of Peveril, his head would measure nearly 

 31in., while Peveril's only measures 27in. ; and the volume of the two heads would 

 then be as 3 to 2." 



A much worse stain in the pedigree of the mastiff is the cross with the 

 bloodhound, which has been tried in order to give majesty to the expression. The 

 result is perhaps in accordance with that object, but the temperament is sadly 

 interfered with, and the general size, as well as the relatively large dimensions of 

 head to body, are lost. Instead of the peculiar breadth of the head, it becomes 



