64 DOMESTICATED DOGS. 



physical properties. There is a dash and tendency to cast forward ■ 

 for a failing scent rather than to return on it, that is peculiar 

 to the foxhound cross, — how derived it is impossible to ascertain, > 

 as there is no other existing hound which possesses it. The 

 bloodhound, otter-hound, and Welsh harrier, which are probably 

 the oldest breeds of hounds now in England, all have a tendency 

 to dwell on the scent, and to cast backward rather than forward. 

 Even the Gordon setter, which is supposed to be crossed with 

 the bloodhound, exhibits this peculiarity in a marked degree, and 

 in him it is often extremely difficult to get him away from the 

 scent of birds gone away. On, the other hand, in the pointer 

 crossed with the foxhound there is none of this pottering, but so 

 much forward dash as to lead to unsteadiness on the point. The ; 

 advocates of the two styles of hunting exhibited by the modern J 

 foxhound and by the remnants of the old Southern hound, whether i 

 harrier, otter-hound, or bloodhound, are of. course loud in praise of 

 their own proteges, and as much opposed to those of their rivals ; 

 but the fashion of the day being all in favour of progress, the 

 foxhound "has it" by a large majority. Nevertheless my own 

 experience leads me to put faith in the superior nose of the 

 harrier or bloodhound; but then he wastes so much time in 

 making out a scent, that at the end of a mile or two it would 

 become cold as compared with its state if followed by a foxhound 

 for the same distance, and practically there is not so much 

 difference as at first sight would appear. Thus, with a pack 

 composed of one half of each breed, when first laid on the cold 

 scent of a hare, the harriers could " speak to it " with much more 

 certainty than the foxhound; but if left to themselves, they would 

 not long keep the lead, and at the end of half-an-hour's hunting 

 they would all be tailed off, their rivals having worked up to their 

 hare and been able to drive her into straight running. Still it 



