NATURAL HJFTORY OF THE DOG. 75 



stance, we have acquired the Staghound, a cross from the 

 Talbot or old southern hound or bloodhound with some lighter 

 stock, probably the greyhound carefully bred back to the 

 desired standard. 



In stature, individual Staghounds frequently equal the 

 bloodhound. Few packs, however, are to be met with ex- 

 ceeding an average of twenty-six inches ; and twenty-five 

 inches, at the fore-shoulder, is more near the general mark. 

 In appearance, the Staghound is a half-bred bloodhound, and 

 he certainly possesses one very striking peculiarity in common 

 with that dog viz., of pertinaciously adhering to the first scent 

 on which he is laid. 



The true Staghound has gradually died away since the 

 days of George III.,* and has been replaced by a dog more 

 nearly allied to the foxhound, and that for the very reason al- 

 ready adduced as having produced the Staghound itself viz., 

 a further increase of speed in the horses employed in the 

 chase. Hunting having subsequently become steeple-chasing 

 in disguise, even the old Staghound became too slow for mod- 

 ern taste, and he has accordingly been laid on the shelf. The 

 foxhound has now become, literally, the " hound of all work." 



Representations of dogs, very like our Staghound, are found 

 among ancient Egyptian paintings. We may fitly describe 

 the dog indicated by them as the oriental hound. 



THE ORIENTAL HOUND. 



This hound is more like the Staghound than the foxhound, 

 differing from the latter dog in the greater height of its legs, 

 and the shortness of its body. 



Colonel Smith gives a figure of one of these dogs, " from a 

 drawing made in Persia of one of several belonging to a Coord- 

 ish chief." (Nat. Lib. Mam., vol. x.) 



These are said to possess so fine a nose as to be able to trace 

 deer several hours after they have passed a fineness of nose 

 that, considering the heat of the climate, and consequent rapid 

 evaporation of the particles of scent, indicate these dogs as 

 superior in nose to any European hound if, perhaps, we ex- 

 cept the bloodhound. This is by some referred to the hound 

 called the breed of St. Louis, from Palestine, to which our 

 hounds owed much improvement from crossing. 



In Wilkinson's " Manners and Customs of the Egyptians," 



* An ardent admirer and patron of stag-hunting. 



