4 liIVLSIUN I. VEKTEBliAL ANIMALS. — CLASS L MAMMALLV. 



nature of liair, &c. Indeed, tlie iiiixtiire of iiintelies of liouml.s, Grey- 

 houiiJ.s, liiilldiiLjs, and A\'ateh-dogs, was still usual on tlie continent, until 

 the licninning of the ]a>t eentury, •\\lienever a great hunting expedition was 

 undertaken; and in Turke}' the grandees, e\en at the present time, eolleet 

 the Wateh-ditgs, iVcc., of the Shepherd triiies of all nations within tlieir 

 rcaeh, and unite them witli their own (ireyhounds when an important da3''s 

 sport is expected. 



Tlie ancients were admirers of breeds of dogs of certain cohirs. AVhite 

 or blue (slate color) Ilunting-dogs were not esteemed; they preferred such 

 as had the fur of a wolf, or were bulF {grain color), foxy, brindled like 

 tlie tiger, or spotted like the panther. Xenophon approves of those with 

 colors separately marked ; and Pollux objects to much white, black, or red. 

 Those which were tan-colored, and had a black muzzle, were named PIio- 

 h/i'.^, and highly esteemed. The dogs hunting by scent are, however, 

 always represented as having a vulpine character; and therefore they 

 cannot have belonged to the race of our modern hounds. Niphus is the 

 first who, we tliink, ajijilies improperly to them the name of limc/ins, a 

 British Celtic appellation, whi<'h, arcording to ^Ir. Whitaker, at first 

 dt'signated a wild hound. In the view of tliat writer, there were originally 

 in r>ritain live races of dugs : the great Household Dog, the Greyhound, 

 the Uulldog, the Terrier, and the large Slowlionnd. Ijut in his descrip- 

 tion he evidently confounds races; ior the Great Household Dog is, with 

 him, a ^Instill', having no sagacity of nose, and distinct from the Bulldog, 

 to which he attributes powers of scent. The Greyhound is regarded by 

 by him as the A'irtagus, or ISritish Vciinti'Ii; while Gains and Pennant 

 are more inclined to consider it a kind of Lurchiu-. His fourth race is the 

 Terrier of P)ritaiu, considered as distinct from tlie Grooked-legged Ttu'uspit 

 of the continent, noticed even by Cireek writers. This may be an indige- 

 nous species, because Oppian, under the name of Agasseus, clearly descrilics 

 the Scottish, or Eough-haired breed. And his denomination seems to be 

 derived from the Celtic Aghast, or Agass, a word used to designate simply 

 a dog ; therefore, emphatically, the dog of the country. C'aius, however, 

 cm[iloyed the name Agasseus for the Gazehound, which may be the present 

 (ireyhound, hunting entirely by the eye. The fifth is the Southern, also 

 Lancashire, or [Manchester Hound ; but that species is of the same original 

 stock with the Beagle, which I'ennant is inclined io consider as the Agas- 

 seus, and we may believe, if it was known in Britain at a I'cmote period, 

 bore the Celtic name of Israeli, proliably diaived fmrn hnic, a spot; in the 

 Teutonic dialects, hnich, //i'ttus, iulcrriiptio, macidii. 



It is, however, obvious that all -breeds of hounds, with round and long 

 drooping cars, are originally descended from one race, and derived from the 



