220 PECULIAR CHARACTERISTICS OF VARIOUS STALLIONS. 



highly desirable to be conversant with the peculiar characteristics 

 of the various public stallions from which the breeder is to pick the 

 sire of his future young hopefuls. To insure success it is neces- 

 sary to study the public performance of the various breeds, and to 

 balance the successes and failures of the animals themselves, their 

 own immediate families, and their descendants, if any. In accord- 

 ance with general custom, more than with any real division at 

 present existing, I shall consider the greyhound as consisting of five 

 leading varieties ; though they have been so much intermixed for 

 many years past, that scarcely any pedigree can be considered as 

 strictly local. These four classes are 



1. The NEWMARKET, including the greyhounds used in Norfolk, 

 Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, 

 and part of Lincolnshire. 



2. The WILTSHIRE dog, confined chiefly to Wiltshire, Berkshire, 

 Dorsetshire, and the Cotswold Hills. 



3. The LANCASHIRE, extending over the whole of the Midland 

 counties of England ; and 



4. The SCOTCH greyhound, which is sufficiently described by his 

 name. 



5. The YORKSHIRE, also defined in the same way. 



The NEWMARKET GREYHOUND, of which the portrait of the ' Czar ' 

 may be taken as a good example, though only half of Newmarket 

 blood, is characterised by great size, immense speed, a tolerable 

 degree of stoutness, considering their general deficiency in the 

 back and sides, and good working powers, in proportion to their 

 size and speed. Nothing can be finer than the galop of these dogs ; 



