THE BLOODHOUND. 237 



pack, liounds must at times be taken hold of by the huntsman, 

 and turned by the whip. This, Mr. Eoden says, bloodhounds 

 do not like. I heard Lord Wolverton say the same in the 

 forest, and my own experience bears it out. They are too 

 independent, or clever, if the term is more agreeable to their 

 admirers ; and I fear I must add that this cleverness is at timevS 

 so great as to border very closely on contrariness. I have heard 

 one of the best huntsmen of the day say that nothing was so fatal 

 to a pack of hounds as allowing them to become conceited. 

 Those that will not notice what others are doing, or stand a 

 rate, are, I fear, very far on the road to conceit. 



My opinion of the bloodhound is that he is out of place in a 

 pack ; but that, used as the Hon. Grantley Berkeley used Druid, 

 either to drive game to the rifle or retrieve it when wounded, 

 they are invaluable. Here, using only one, or a couple as the 

 case may be, their cleverness and independence has full scope ; 

 they can use their intellect without interference from a hunts- 

 man, take time to puzzle out the scent when at fault, and hunt 

 after their own manner ; but this is not what we want in a 

 pack, and I doubt very strongly if bloodhounds were ever used 

 to any great extent, save as auxiliaries to the bow, cross-bow, or 

 rifle. Again, in hunting a man, if their nose only enables them 

 to keep the line, pace is very little object ; for, although a 

 "Weston or Gale may give them some trouble if he kept going 

 straight ahead to overtake him, ordinary thieves or freebooters 

 would, I anticipate, having secured their prey, make straight for 

 what they considered some place of security, and hide there, so 

 that if the hound will only bring his master to the spot with 

 certainty, the pace and style in which he does the work is of 

 very small importance indeed. Whether the bloodhound can 

 really hunt a lower scent than ordinary hounds will, I fancy, 

 always be a moot point ; there is no doubt but he has an 

 exceedingly fine nose, and nature has endowed him with the 

 patience to make the most of it. That other dogs can hunt a 

 low scent also may be inferred by watching one who has lost 



