106 Forty Years Beagling 



work; must have an inherent love of the chase; 

 must be sagacious (better known as level-headed) ; 

 must have persistence to follow the trail when at a 

 loss, staying till he works it out, running only as 

 fast as his intelhgence tells him by his scenting 

 powers he is right, following true and steady, giv- 

 ing deep, melodious tongue. 



"Scent and intelligence must be paramount, 

 otherwise he will overrun the track, pick up his loss 

 indifferently and without courage or persistence, 

 quit. He is not requii^ed to catch the game for this 

 very reason, the beagle is used for rabbit-hunting 

 and the standard for height has been wisely placed 

 at 15 inches. Small, true, slow-running dogs are 

 better for rabbit hunting for the reason that as a 

 rabbit runs in a circle, the slower he is run the less 

 he is scared and the smaller he makes his circle; 

 thus the slow, true-running dog brings the game 

 more quickly to the gun, for it stands to reason the 

 larger the circle the less chance the hunter has of 

 shooting. 



"Now, if a fast-running dog is preferable, why 

 use beagles, and if you do use beagles, why not 

 18-inch beagles, as they can outrun their smaller 

 companions and certainly would be the better rab- 

 bit-dog of the two, all else being equal, providing 

 speed is required? Now, no hound is worth hunt- 



