BLOODHOUND CROSS 71 



them to hunt all three, and it was marvellous how they 

 would hold on to the scent on which they were first 

 laid. It was a source of amusement to one or two old 

 masters of hounds who were present to hear me calling 

 out, * Ware hare !' to harriers when we happened to 

 be running a deer if a hare got up ; but, nevertheless, 

 they seemed to perfectly understand what was ex- 

 pected of them, whether hunting fox or deer, and we 

 generally managed to account for the deer, and, I may 

 add, for nearly every fox which we hunted. These 

 harriers were i8 inches, and were really more of 

 the dwindle foxhound than harriers. I found that 

 a touch of foxhound and bloodhound cross was in- 

 valuable for road-hunting and for a bad-scenting 

 country. I had amongst them a few couple of Mr. 

 Kavanagh's celebrated pack of dwindle foxhounds, 

 which I got when they were sold at Sewell's. It 

 is my firm belief that this invaluable bloodhound cross 

 is not recoo^nised half as much as it oug-ht to be, 

 whether for hunting, shooting, or tracking deer. I 

 have often seen deer tracked by a collie, even the 

 second day after being wounded ; and I feel certain 

 that if the collie and bloodhound were crossed the 

 result would produce a ' tracker ' even more useful. 

 Pointers crossed with the bloodhound possess extra- 

 ordinarily fine noses. I have often thought that 

 masters of foxhounds do not sufficiently respect the 

 bloodhound strain or use it sufficiently ; and I am 

 sure that if they used it more, where countries are 

 cold-scenting, clayey, or sandy, a greater number of 

 foxes would be accounted for. I have myself written 

 on the subject, but in vain, as I find people are satisfied 

 to adhere to a fashionable breed all their lives, and will 



