THE OLD STAG-nOUx\D. 221 



over, there is the water to be taken into consideration ; and 

 where a big hound is only wading, the small one would often 

 have to swim — a slight difference in a very strong current, or 

 where a deer is set up in a pool. What Somerville says, " The 

 pigmy brood in every furrow swims," is strongly exemplified 

 in stag-hunting. Mr. Bisset does not, as a rule, breed his own 

 hounds, and the reason is evident (forming also a strong case 

 for not going back to the old blood), to get good-shaped hounds 

 up to his standard, and they average twenty-tive inches. I 

 believe there is no bitch (?) even in the kennel under twenty- 

 four, he would have to breed as many hounds as the Brockles- 

 by or Belvoir, and then probably fall short of the number he 

 wanted to put on every year ; but by taking them from other 

 kennels, he is able to obtain a lot of young hounds drafted 

 merely for being above the standard, and very few will put for- 

 ward a dog that goes beyond twenty-four inches in height ; 

 hence he often meets with grand giants exactly suited to his 

 purpose. Hunting but two days a week, he does not want a 

 large kennel, and thus can keep them up at a great deal less 

 cost than it would take to breed them. ISTeither is it necessary 

 to go so very far afield, for with Lord Portsmouth's, the 

 Stevenstone, and, a few years ago, Lord Poltimore's packs — all 

 celebrated, and all, as we may say, within hail — there has been 

 plenty of material to draw from ; and that of hounds bred espe- 

 cially for these wild countries, hounds that are expected to 

 depend on themselves, and by their own nose and sense work 

 out difficulties when no huntsman can get near to aid them. 

 These qualities soon become hereditary, and hence the stag- 

 hounds have a decided advantage in the surrounding packs, being 

 of such a high standard. 



" The last time I saw them, Arthur Heal was endeavouring 

 to get them unrounded, and I certainly think it adds to the 

 beauty of appearance in any hounds having their ears in their 

 natural state ; neither is it of any use, as the stag-hound has 

 not, the r)unishing work in drawing and hunting close gorses as 



