42 THE DESCRIPTIVE ANATOMY OF THE DOG. 



granted, it is useless to look back for a brindled ancestor, 

 whenever such a colour comes out in the son or daughter of two 

 greyhounds of a black or red colour, because their mixture alone 

 will often produce it; but as there are few public pedigrees 

 without a solitary instance of the stripe occurring in them, it is 

 difficult to produce a case in which it has come solely by the 

 mixture of red and black ; and I know of no such case, for this 

 simple reason, that I know of no public pedigree without its 

 occurrence, except in those instances such as 'Foremost,' 

 6 Bedlamite,' and 4 Ranter,' where none but black puppies were 

 got. In private breeding I have, however, known the brindle 

 peep out without any trace of it for six or seven generations 

 back, beyond which few private pedigrees can be accurately 

 made out. 



But though many good dogs have appeared of a brindled 

 colour, yet it cannot be denied that it does not stand so high in 

 general estimation as those I have mentioned : the same rule will, 

 however, apply to colour as to tail the pedigree alone ought to 

 guide us ; and it will lead us right, in spite of tails, colours, or 

 coats. With all my prejudices, therefore, in favour of blacks and 

 reds, I confess that I can give no reason for the preference, other 

 than the fact that there are more winners of those colours than 

 of any other. But to show that these are really the best colours, 

 more than this is necessary, as we must prove that the proportion 

 of winners to losers is greater in these colours than in others. 

 This, however, is a task which I am not inclined to impose upon 

 myself, but as a guess, I much doubt whether the result would 



