44 Varieties of the Dog. 
of the late Mr. T. Assheton Smith) ; at Charbro’ Park, 
Dorset (the seat of Mr. Drax); at Olantigh Towers, in 
Kent, and at Holnest House, in Dorset (both seats be- 
longing to the same gentleman) ; whilst Kingston Lacey, 
in Dorset (the property of the Bankes family), produces 
both morels and truffles, Truffles are also found at East- 
well Park, Kent; at Sir J. Sebright’s, in Beechwood Park ;_ 
at Lord Barrington’s; at Lord Jersey’s; at Longleat, 
Wilts ; at the Countess Bridgewater’s ; at Lord Winchil- 
sea’s; and, we believe, at the Earl of Abingdon’s seat, near 
Oxford. 
In Italy, this fungus is hunted with a pig (a fact con- 
firmed by Youatt) ; in France (as with us) the truffle- 
hunter depends upon his dog. The breed is rare, and 
the men dislike to sell them. It is said that, about two 
hundred years ago, an old Spaniard brought two dogs into 
Wiltshire, and made a great deal of money by the sale of 
truffles which his dogs found for him ; that at his death , 
he left his money and his dogs to a farmer from whom he 
had received some kindness, and that the hunters derive 
their dogs from those he left that farmer. 
The truffle dog is a small poodle (nearly a pure poodle), 
and weighing about 15 lbs. He is white, or black and 
white, or black, with the black mouth and under-lip of his 
race. He is a sharp, intelligent, quaint companion, and 
has the “homeing” faculty of a pigeon. When sold to a 
new master, he has been known to find his way home for 
sixty miles, and to have travelled the greater part of the 
way by night. | j 
It is mute in its quest, and should be thoroughly broken 
from all game. These are essential qualities in a dog 
whose owner frequently hunts truffles at night—in the 
shrubberies of mansions protected by keepers and watch- 
men, who regard him with suspicion. In order to dis- 
tinguish a d/ack dog on these occasions, the hunter fur- 
nishes his animal with a white shirt, and occasionally 
hunts him in a line. 
These dogs are rather longer on the leg than the true 
poodle, have exquisite noses, and hunt close to the 
ground. On the scent of a truffle (especially in the 
