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THE BLOODHOUND. 217 



Casual passengers were constantly arrested in their walk by the singular animated mop 

 that rolled along without any visible means of progression, and I have more than once been 

 witness to a warm dispute respecting the position in nature which the strange animal might 

 occupy. Some thought it might be a Dog, while others suggested that it was a young lion ; 

 but the prevailing idea referred little Quiz to a position among the bears. 



He was a most amusing and clever little animal, readily picking up acquirements, and 

 inventing new accomplishments of his own. He would sit" at the piano, and sing a song to his 

 own accompaniment, the manual, or rather the pedal, part of the performance being achieved 

 by a dexterous patting of the keys, and the vocal efforts by a prolonged and modulated howl. 

 He could also "talk," by uttering little yelps in rapid succession. 



Like all pet Dogs, he was jealous of disposition, and could not bear that any one, not 

 excepting his mistress, should be more noticed than himself. 



When his mistress was ill, he was much aggrieved at the exclusive attention which was 

 given to the invalid, and cast about in his doggish brain for some method of attracting the 

 notice which he coveted. It is supposed that he must have watched the interview between 

 the medical man and patient, and have settled in his mind the attraction which exercised so 

 powerful an influence upon the physician ; for just as the well-known carriage drew up to 

 the door, Quiz got on a chair, sat up on his hind legs, and began to put out his tongue, and 

 hold forth his paw, as he had seen his mistress do, and evidently expected to be treated in a 

 similar manner. His purpose was certainly gained, for he attracted universal attention by 

 his ruse. He had not patience to keep his tongue out of his mouth, but rapidly thrust it out, 

 and as rapidly withdrew it again. 



Poor Quiz died very shortly after I made acquaintance with him, a victim to the cholera, 

 which at that time was rife in Oxford. 



The very tiniest of the Dog family is the Mexican Lapdog, a creature so very minute 

 in its dimensions as to appear almost fabulous to those who have not seen the animal itself. 



One of these little canine pets is to be seen in the British Museum, and always attracts 

 much attention from the visitors. Indeed, if it were not in so dignified a locality, it would 

 be generally classed with the mermaid, the flying serpent, and the Tartar lamb, as an admir- 

 able example of clever workmanship. It is precisely like those white woolen toy Dogs which 

 sit upon a pair of bellows, and when pressed give forth a nondescript sound, intended to do 

 duty for the legitimate canine bark. To say that it is no larger than these toys would be 

 hardly true, for I have seen in the shop windows many a toy Dog which exceeded in size the 

 veritable Mexican Lapdog. 



The magnificent animal which is termed the Bloodhound, on account of its peculiar 

 facility for tracking a wounded animal through all the mazes of its devious course, is very 

 scarce in England, as there is but little need for these Dogs for its chief employment. 



In the ' ' good old times ' ' this animal was largely used by thief -takers, for the purpose of 

 tracking and securing the robbers who in those days made the country unsafe, and laid the 

 roads under a black mail. Sheep-stealers, who were much more common when the offence 

 was visited with capital punishment, were frequently detected by the delicate nose of the 

 Bloodhound, which would, when once laid on the scent, follow it up with unerring precision, 

 unravelling the single trail from among a hundred crossing footsteps, and only to be baffled by 

 water or blood. Water holds no scent, and if the hunted man is able to take a long leap into 

 the water, and to get out again in some similar fashion, he may set at defiance the Blood- 

 hound's nose. If blood be spilt upon the track, the delicate olfactories of the animal are 

 blunted, and it is no longer able to follow the comparatively weak scent which is left by the 

 retreating footsteps. 



Both these methods have been successfully employed, but in either case great caution is 

 needed. When the hound suspects that the quarry has taken to the water, it swims backward 

 and forward, testing' every inch of the bank on both sides, and applying its nose to every leaf, 

 stick, or frothy scum that comes floating by. 



