230 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 



marshy brakes and deep forests, where perfection of scent 

 is the most desirable of qualities, and where great speed is 

 not attainable, owing to the nature of the ground, and not 

 desirable, owing to the extreme difficulty of following the 

 hunt, which must be kept in hearing rather than in sight 

 by the sportsman. 



I should advise persons choosing this animal to select 

 him exactly for the points laid down by Beckford, as 

 quoted above on page 223 ; and to be contented with his 

 great scenting powers, industry, and deep resounding 

 Toiee, which makes wonderfully stirring and sonorous music 

 under the solemn arches of the grand re-echoing forest. 



The best colors are black and yellow pied, or blue 

 mottle with black and tan ears, eyepatches and saddles ; 

 and a medium-sized dog, strong, muscular, and compactly 

 built, with long back ribs, which, as in the horse, should 

 be well developed and firmly fixed to the hips by strong 

 muscles, long thighs and good strong " stifles" — all of which, 

 as Nimrod properly insists, are essential points — not to 

 exceed from 22 to 24 inches in height, is preferable to a 

 larger dog. 



The English staghound, which is never seen in this 

 country, and of which there are but two or three packs 

 kept in England, is from 26 to 28 and even thirty 

 inches, and is a beautiful spiry animal closely resembling 

 the improved foxhound, or in fact identical with him in all 

 points, except that he is exaggerated in size. 



The English foxhound ranges from 23 to 25 inches for 

 the dogs, from 22 to 23 for the bitches ; but uniformity 



