Toy Beagles 155 



as stiff as anything in Maryland. I know three 

 little beagles, 9, 91/2 and 101/2 inch that are just the 

 very best hounds for foxes in that section, they do 

 not catch foxes as they would have us believe all 

 the Southern hounds do, but all the same their 

 owner shot 43 red foxes ahead of them last season. 



"What's the use of any talk about reviving 

 pocket beagles, when Wixom can sell you any 

 quantity of them under 10 inches, but it is no use 

 to show them. They think they are only toys, but 

 you know better, as you have seen them at work. 



"What has 'thick rocky cover' got to do with it, 

 and how can it be 'too much for their strength' ? A 

 9-inch beagle can go where bunny can, and I know 

 he is much stronger." 



Next comes Mr. H. B. Tallman, of Green, 

 Rhode Island, in favor of the larger beagle, when 

 he says : "Mr. Fellows writes as though he believed 

 that toy beagles were as fast and enduring workers 

 as the large ones, and says that the talk about rough, 

 rocky country is all nonsense. I don't see why their 

 size — or lack of size — should prevent their being 

 fast or enduring, in a country that is favorable to 

 the work of small dogs, but does he really think that 

 dogs under 12 inches can follow rabbits thi'oughout 

 a day's hunt in a country composed principally of 

 thick swamp, brush heaps, blackberry vines, and 



