i68 



CHAPTER XVI. 

 THE DEERHOUND. 



BY ROBERT LEIGHTON. 



'A chiejtain's, in good truth, this dog was once. 

 And if in form and action he remained 

 What he then i0as when first Odysseus left. 

 His swiftness and his strength would well have roused 

 Thy wonder at his hunting : never game 

 Escaped him in the thickest woodland glade : 

 Whatever he might follow, by their trail 

 He knew them all most thoroughly." 



— Cordrey's '■ Odyssey." 



THE Deerhound is one of the most 

 decuriitive of dogs, impressively 

 stately and picturesque wherever he 

 is seen, whether it be amid the surround- 

 ings of the baronial hall, reclining at luxu- 

 rious length before the open hearth in the 

 fitful light of the log fire that flickers on 

 polished armour and tarnished tapestry ; 

 out in the open, straining at the leash as he 

 scents the dewy air, or gracefully bounding 

 over the piu'jile of liis nati\"e hills. Grace 

 and majesty are in liis e\'ery movement and 

 attitude, and even to the most prosaic mind 

 there is about him the inseparable glamour 

 of feudal romance and poetry. He is at his 

 best alert in the excitement of the chase ; 

 but all too rare now is the inspiring sight 

 that once was common among the mountains 

 of Morven and tlie glens of Argyll of the 

 deep-voiced hound speeding in jnirsuit of his 

 antlered prey, racing him at full stretch 

 along the mountain's ridge, or baying him 

 at last in the fastness of darksome corrie or 

 deep ravine. Gone are the good romantic 

 days of stalking, beloved by Scrope. The 

 Highlands have lost their loneliness, and 

 the inventions of the modern gunsmith have 

 robbed one of the grandest of Imnting dogs 

 of his glory, relegating him to the life of a 

 pedestrian pet, whose highest dignity is 

 the winning of a pecuniary prize under 

 Kennel Club rules. 



Historians of the Deerhound associate 

 him with the original Irish Wolfdog, of 



whom he is obviously a close relative, and 

 it is sure tliat when the wolf still lingered 

 in the land it was the frequent quarry of 

 the Highland as of the Hibernian hound. 

 Legend has it tliat Prince Ossian, son of 

 Fingal, King of Morven, hunted the wolf 

 with the grey, long-bounding dogs. " Swift- 

 footed Luath " and "White-breasted Bran" 

 are among the names of Ossian's hounds. 

 I am disposed to affirm that the old Irish 

 Wolfhound and the Highland Deerhound 

 are not only intimately allied in form and 

 nature, but that they are two strains of an 

 identical breed, altered only in size by 

 circumstance and environment. There are 

 reasons for the supposition that they were 

 originally of one family. During the period 

 of the Danish dominion over the Hebrides, 

 the sport-loving Scandinavians held such 

 constant communication between Scotland 

 and Ireland that it is to be presumed they 

 commonly interbred the hounds of both 

 countries. 



Nor was the process confined to one 

 channel of intercourse. In the southern 

 parts of the main island, and particularly in 

 Wessex, there existed in ancient times a 

 rough-coated Gazeliound of analogous type, 

 which possibly drifted over the border to 

 become more rugged and sturdy under the 

 influence of a rigorous climate. The dogs 

 of Great Britain have never for long remained 

 strictly local in type and character. Civil 

 wars, the courtesies of friendly kings, and 



