FRENCH AND OTHER CONTINENTAL HOUNDS. 
GRIFFON VENDEEN-NIVERNAIS PISTOLET. 
PROPERTY OF M. E. COSTE, LACAUCHE. 
velvety, folding inwards. The body is long 
and heavy, broad and muscular, the neck 
short in proportion and heavily dewlapped. 
His short coat is harsh, in colour usually 
white with large brown, black or grizzle 
patches ; occasionally it is tricolour with a 
grizzle saddle. The height is often 29 
inches, and the weight about 78 Ib. 
A more generally useful hound is the 
Chien de Gascogne. He is lighter built, 
weighing about 62 lb., but he 
487 
The Gascon-Saintongeois is quite unlike 
any hound we have in England. It is 
larger, less compact, and more leggy than 
the English Foxhound, and the loose skin 
about the head and throat, the long muzzle 
and heavy flews, with the high occiput and 
the low, pendulous ears give the dog a 
character peculiarly his own. The smooth 
white coat is marked with large black 
patches, and frequently speckled with black 
spots. The height averages 294 inches. 
In many departments there are hounds 
which, although possessing distinctive fea- 
tures, are yet of a type approximating to 
those already referred to. One needs to 
see them and make intimate comparisons 
in order to detect the shades of difference. 
Illustrations and bald descriptions are of 
little help in defining the disparities between 
the Gascon and the Saintongeois, the 
Montemboeuf, and the Haut-Poitou, or 
between any of these and the multitude of 
batards, limuers and briquets that give 
distinction to the hunting equipages of the 
nobility of France. 
It would become tedious, too, if one were 
to attempt to particularise the countless 
varieties of dogs used in the chase in other 
Continental countries; although in some 
instances these differ considerably from our 
familiar Foxhound and Harrier types. There 
is strong and of great endur- 
ance. He, too, has something 
of the St. Hubert in his in- 
heritance, which is visible in 
his occipital peak, his very 
long and much-folded ears, his 
wrinkled visage and deep flews. 
His coat is hard on the body, 
but soft and silky about the 
head and ears. In colour he is 
blue, or white with many black 
spots, blue mottled, with slight 
pale tan markings. Often there 
is a pale tan about the eyes and 
feet. One of the best packs in 
France is that of M. le Prince 
de la Tour d’Auvergne. This 
hound has been successfully 
crossed with the Saintongeois. 
TYPICAL NORMAN HOUND LANCIER. 
OWNED BY COMTE H. MALEYSSIE, CHARTRES. 
