36 THE DESCRIPTIVE ANATOMY OF THE DOG. 



excellent example, but, cceteris paribus, a moderately large dog, 

 or bitch, not overgrown, will beat a small one at all points. 



Besides the points of form which I have enumerated as really 

 connected with the action of the animal, some others are usually 

 selected as indications of the goodness of the breed ; these 

 are the TAIL, the COLOUR, and the fineness of the COAT. The 

 tail ought, according to general belief, to be long and gently 

 curved like a tobacco-pipe, large and strong at the root, then 

 rapidly diminishing till it becomes in the bone as small as the 

 little finger. But there should certainly, in my opinion, be some 

 considerable quantity of hair towards the tip, not surrounding 

 the tail, but forming a slight brush on the under side ; this 

 is often removed by a little resin in the hand, but in most of our 

 best dogs it naturally exists. In puppies it is very much stronger 

 than in old dogs, and it is a sign of hardness of constitution. 

 Many of our best breeds have possessed more curl in their tail 

 than I have described, but it is not to be admired, though it may 

 be tolerated ; still, as the form of the tail is not essential to speed 

 or working powers, it should never be taken into consideration as 

 a test of blood, because we have a better criterion of the good- 

 ness of the breed in the pedigree of the individual than in the 

 shape of his tail, and few coursers now-a-days would be content to 

 rear a puppy without knowing more of him than the shape of his 

 tail, or his colour and conformation. 



With regard to colour I confess to a strong prejudice in favour 

 of self colours of which black and red (especially with black 

 muzzles) certainly are to me by far the most attractive. And 



