262 THE DOGS OF THE BEITISH ISLANDS. 



The truffle with a rough scaly coat, much resembling the fir cone, these men 

 call a " bud truffle; " the smooth-coated variety they call a " garlic truffle." Both 

 are equally good for the table ; but there is a red-skinned truffle found deeper in the 

 ground, which they assert to be poisonous. 



Our informant stated that, some years ago, a specimen was found weighing 

 3|lb., and " nearly as large as a half-gallon loaf." This assertion we doubt ; but 

 we do believe they are frequently met with weighing Iflb. or 21b., though inferior in 

 flavour to the smaller specimens. 



In Italy this fungus is hunted with a pig (a fact confirmed by Touatt) ; in 

 France (as with us) the truffle- hunter depends upon his dog. The breed is rare, 

 and the men dislike to sell them. It is said that about two hundred years ago 

 an old Spaniard brought two dogs into Wiltshire, and made a great deal of money 

 by the sale of truffles which his dogs found for him ; and at his death he left his 

 money and his dogs to a farmer from whom he had received some kindness, and that 

 the present dogs are derived from those he left the farmer. 



The truffle-dog is a small poodle (nearly a pure poodle), and weighing about 

 151b. He is white, or black-and-white, or black, with the black mouth and 

 under-lip of his race. He is a sharp, intelligent, quaint companion, and has the 

 " homeing " faculty of a pigeon. When sold to a new master he has been known to 

 find his way home for sixty miles, and to have travelled the greater part of the way 

 by night. 



He is mute in his quest, and should be thoroughly broken from all game. 

 These are essential qualities in a dog whose owner frequently hunts truffles at 

 night in the shrubberies of mansions protected by keepers and watchmen, who 

 regard him with suspicion. In order to distinguish a Hack dog on these occasions, 

 the hunter furnishes his animal with a white shirt, and occasionally also hunts 

 him in a line. 



These dogs are rather longer on the leg than the true poodle, but have 

 exquisite noses, and hunt close to the ground. On the scent of a truffle (especially 

 in the morning or evening, when it gives out most smell), they show all the 

 keenness of a spaniel, working their short-cropped tails, and feathering along 

 the surface of the ground for from twenty to fifty yards. Arrived at the spot where 

 the fungus lies buried, some two or three inches beneath the surface, they dig 

 like a terrier at a rat's hole, and the best of them, if let alone, will disinter the 

 fungus and carry it to his master. It is not usual, however, to allow the dog 

 to exhaust himself in this way, and the owner forks up the truffle and gives the 

 dog his usual reward, a piece of bread or cheese ; for this he looks, from long 

 habit, with the keen glance of a Spanish gipsy. 



The truffle-hunter is set up in business when he possesses a good dog ; all 

 he requires besides will be a short staff, about 2ft. Sin. long, shod with a strong 

 iron point, and at the other end furnished with a two-fanged iron hook. With 

 this implement he can dig the largest truffle, or draw aside the briers or boughs 

 in copse-wood to give his dog free scope to use his nose. He travels frequently 

 thirty or forty miles on his hunting expeditions ; and with this (to use a business 



