INSTANCES OF STALLIONS. 213 



particular breed if put to a cross-bred dog will throw pup- 

 pies resembling herself in a much greater degree than the sire, 

 and the reverse would happen if the sire were of purer blood 

 than the dam. This theory also explains the reason why a 

 greyhound of mixed blood generally gets stock resembling 

 that branch of his pedigree which is the ^oldest, unless over- 

 whelmed by an unusual preponderance of other more impure 

 or modern blood. This fact I shall again have to refer to 

 when I come to allude to particular pedigrees. It is sufficient for 

 my present purpose to notice the fact, and hereafter to return 

 to the subject in considering the value of individual stallions. 



No single fact in breeding is so well established as this, and 

 yet it seems to have been totally neglected in the breeding of the 

 greyhound, as far as I know : indeed, the ignorance of the true 

 principles of conducting the entire management of the greyhound 

 kennel is very remarkable, considering that the animal has been 

 so long the pride and glory of a large body of educated men, 

 numbering among them kings, dukes, earls, and judges of the 

 land, and even bishops, to say nothing of inferior members of the 

 three learned professions. 



But it must be remembered, that, in searching for a particular 

 quality in the stallion, you will often succeed if you select one 

 who, from the very excess of that quality, was in public a very 

 middling or inferior performer. Thus, a dog may be so fast as to 

 overrun himself, or so venomous as to be constantly overtaxing his 

 energies in his desire to kill ; and yet such a dog will get good 

 stock, because his progeny will seldom come up to him in these 



