304 COYERT-SIDE SKETCHES. 



CHAPTEE XXVlir. 



THE BROOKSIDE HAERIEFS. 



As some brave captain, curious and exact. 

 By liis tix'd standard forms in equal ranks 



His gay battalion, 



So model tliou thy pack. 



One of the most celebrated packs of harriers that have ever come 

 Tinder my notice is the Brookside, and none could I find more 

 worthy of record in a work like the present, as they are not only 

 quite a different type of hound from any others that I have seen, 

 but no pack can boast of having more ancient blood in the ken- 

 nel than these, nor hounds which have had so little admixture 

 from other packs in their veins. Whence they were derived in 

 the first place I have never been able to ascertain, but no one 

 accustomed to notice hounds could fail to see that they possess 

 very distinctive characteristics which point to a breed carefully 

 preserved for a great number of years. In height, colour, and 

 size, they nearly approach fox-hounds, as they are quite two and 

 twenty inches high, with powerful frames, totally devoid of 

 lumber, and their colour is that known as a very rich Belvoir 

 tan. It may be said this description would do for fox-hounds, 

 and so it would, but I will venture to assert that, put a fox- 

 hound into the Brookside kennels, and he would look as much 

 out of place as a pointer would, and be as easily detected. In 

 style and character they are totally dissimilar, and, for that 

 matter, they are equally unlike the heavy blue mottled or the 

 small beagle harrier. I have seen it stated that they are a cross 



