THE HOOTD. 227 



quarters, slender heads, small ears, and greater celerity of 

 motion with a shriller and less musical note ; but in the 

 great prevalence of white, which, more or less pied and 

 spotted with black and tan or yellow pie, is decidedly the 

 prevalent color, at present, of all the favorite families even 

 of the fast modern harrier, which is now little more than 

 a small foxhound, though, perhaps, one shade less removed 

 from the Southern hound. 



I am myself inclined to the belief that all the improved 

 modern dogs have been produced rather by the careful 

 selection, generation after generation, of the lightest, best 

 formed, handsomest, and fleetest parents on both sides, 

 than by crossing with dogs of different races and varie- 

 ties. We know that such has been the case mainly with 

 our improved breed of cattle and sheep, and I do not see 

 why such should be overlooked, as a palpable method of 

 improving families of dogs. 



We know that, by constantly, year after year, breed- 

 ing from the tallest 26-inch foxhounds out of 25 or 24- 

 inch bitches, we have established a permanent family, 

 known as staghounds or buckhounds, of which her Majes- 

 ty's pack at Windsor are the finest type. These must not 

 be confounded with the Highland deerhound, which is a 

 totally distinct animal, of which I shall treat hereafter. 



We know also that by raising stock in the same manner 

 from the smallest and lightest foxhounds, which are draft- 

 ed from regular packs owing to their want of symmetrical 

 size, and physical endurance, we have built up a self- 

 reproducing family of improved harriers. In the like 

 manner— -since the formation, slowness, depth of voice, color, 



