188 Forty Years Beagling- 



cured from the Darlington show in 1877. A few 

 of their progeny were exhibited here but were 

 downed by the Rowetts. Mr. Featherstone valued 

 them highly for hunting and seldom parted with 

 one. I had a pair from him and mention them to 

 illustrate the head question. The dog was a min- 

 iature English foxhound, head and all. The bitch 

 had the bloodhound head to a demonstration: peak, 

 wrinkle, haw, flew, and all. Both had very wide 

 nostrils. This strain were 'heady' hunters, but ap- 

 pear to have lacked the sterhng qualities necessary 

 to hand down their names to posterity. 



*'The most cowardly beagle I ever saw was a 

 sourfaced duffer with a foxhound head, and he was 

 so gunshy, that if caught out in a thunderstorm, he 

 would try to climb a tree. Whether the Banner- 

 man type of head is right or not, there is no dis- 

 counting their courage. 



"As I learn from your news column that he (Mr. 

 MacAleer) has traded his field-trial winner for a 

 field dog, 'even up,' it is useless to say anything 

 about that part of the subject, as example is 

 stronger than precept. The advice as to the dis- 

 posal of gunshy beagles and his opinion of type 

 lead me to believe that the only kind of beagle with 

 which he is much acquainted is the negro rabbit 

 dog. English beagles have been bred for ages to 



