410 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



Pec 16, 1886. 



MASTIFF CHARACTER. 



TYPE AND DTSPOSITIOK. 



Editor Forest and Stream: i,r -tr ,j 



My excuse for not replying sooner to Messrs. V. M. Halde- 

 man and W. Wade on mastiff type, in your issne of Aug. 

 12 and 19 last, must be that I only received those particular 

 ■numbers a few days since. I am glad air. Haldeman dis- 

 claims that the muzzle can l)e too short. With regard to 

 the particular instance of Hf ord Caution, did it never strike 

 Mr. Haldeman that the want of squareness and trancated 

 appearance he complains of in that dog may arise, not from 

 the upper jaw being too short, taut from the lower Jaw being 

 too long? 'l should have liked a piece more cut off. Master 

 Haldeman, you have not yet learned your lesson. Trunco- 

 as-avi is the verb you must study. 



Mr. Haldeman says "the bulldog layback is a positive 

 malformation and is more objectionable than the hound 

 muzzle." How does he prove this? I must once more inform 

 him, in arguing on the points of a breed, we cannot allow 

 the mere ipse Mxlt or prejudice of any beginner to unfairly 

 influence the subject. 



I fail to see anything anomalous or irregular to the mas- 

 tiff group in the "formation of the muzzle of Hf ord Caution. 

 It cannot be too strongly enforced that houndiuess about the 

 head of a mastiff is a siire sign of mongrel ism. The breeder 

 of Governor's sire, in "Stonehenge," says of the head: "No 

 characteristic is so ciiiickly affected by impurity in the 

 blood," and as great or even greater authority, Idstone, says; 

 "A long, pointed muzzle, or a muzzle which is not blunt, 

 would make me siispicious of the purity." Mr. Haldeman 

 states I would have my readers believe the layback he com- 

 plaius of in Caution ""is a true characteristic "of the breed." 

 Now I do not think I ever advanced anything of the sort; 

 but I do maintain that it "is a characteristic of the group" 

 and no malformation. It is therefore admissible in the mas- 

 tiff, and to be encouraged rather than houndiness, which is 

 certainly a malformation in the mastiff, being a sign of mon- 

 grelism, and therefore far more objectionable than any 

 amount of layback can possibly be. I cannot allow Mr. Hal- 

 deman's statements, or rather misstatements (unintentional, 

 I have no doubt). He may mislead himself into the belief 

 that the evidence is on his side, but I shall be content to 

 leave the decision to the jury — our readers. 



Now for J\Ir. Wade, who, what with, his peculiar logic, evi- 

 dent good intentions, real love for the breed, and a certain 

 amount of knowledge of its history and characteristics, is a 

 much more difficult party to deal mth. Ashe has compared 

 himself to Tantalus, in trying to gi-asp facts, let me warn 

 him to be careful not to briAg the weight of Mt. Sipylus on 

 his head. He continues to mislead himself, if not others, by 

 arguing from copies of photographs and fancy portraits, 

 false and misleading as photos alone are known to be. How- 

 evei-, Mr. Wade gets very near the mark when he says "very 

 few square-miizzled dogs are level-jawed." This is hopeful. 

 I am glad he will allow that the mastiff "should be slightly 

 undershot." 



Now, I cannot help Ilford Catition having a characteristic 

 of the groun very strongly marked, but eitlier Messrs. Wade 

 or Haldeman may see by ref erilng to the poiats in page 210 

 of my work, "The History of the Mastiff," that I have stated, 

 "Head short," ' squareness and bluntness of muzzle," "muz- 

 zle short and truncated," "line of profile from .stop level," 

 "teeth, lower incisors projecting slightly beyond the upper." 



Both Messrs. Haldeman and Wade will have to gra.sp the 

 fact before they can be considered to know what the English 

 mastiff should' be, that houndiness cannot be tolerated any 

 more than indications of St. Bernard or boarhound cro.sses. 



I cannot glide from type to disposition better than by quot- 

 ing a statement made by Mrs. Lukey to the effect that "INIr. 

 Lukey never would have the houndy cone, ears and narrow 

 skull, not merely because it spoilt the beauty and purity of 

 the type, but because it tinged the noble disposition of a 

 pure-bred mastiff with something sly, sneaking and treach- 

 erous." 



I could mention several instances illustrative of the noble 

 disposition of the mastiff' that have come under my observa- 

 tion, only for the fact they would occupy more space than 

 the editor would cai-e to bestow. Still, there is little reason 

 to fear that the variety has grown any less vigilant or intel- 

 ligent, through cultivating the external typical characteris- 

 tics so carefully, if we frequently let the mental character- 

 istics lie dormant. 



Only a short time since my mastiff bitch Phoenix (a very 

 short-muzzled specimen and closely inbred to the King line 

 on her dam's .side) showed how naturally vigilant the breed 

 is. I had occasion to go to a village, about a mile off, just as 

 the light was falling. I took Phoenix with me for a run, she 

 was ki front, when suddenly she gave a peculiar bark, fol- 

 lowed by a growl, and as I came up she drew stiffly up to 

 what turned out to he a man lying by the side of the road. 

 Calling her in, I wen tup to the man and found he was simply 

 in a state of intoxication. I got him on his legs and saw 

 him start on his way homeward, much to the satisfaction of 

 Phoenix, who evidently perceived all was not right. 



A .short time after, having to go to the doctor's after dark, 

 I took Phoenix with me for company. She kept close to my 

 side all the way and I could tell by her manner whenever we 

 were meeting any one. Suddenly she .stopped and made a 

 peculiar little noise. I stopped to listen and soon heard voices 

 somewhere close, but it was too dark for me to see any one. 

 Although a most good-tempered, playful animal when loose 

 in th'e daytime, when on chain she is a good watch. When 

 locse she' snows a decided liking to dash round and round 

 cows and bark at them, and it would take very little en- 

 couragement to set her on either cow or bull and a donkey, 

 she sniffs at and walks round in a most peculiar and in- 

 quisitive manner. Her dam has the same high courage and 

 good tempered, gentle disposition. On the other hand, a 

 puppy Mr. Wade sent me once from Amei-ica was the most 

 abject coward with cows I have ever come across. I often 

 ■wished her shot for being such a poltroon. She traced back 

 to Trajan, whose dam's pedigree 1 could never obtain, and 

 his pointed but not long muzzle .suggested some mongrel 

 blood. The bitch puppy inherited the pointed muzzle, as 

 well as being inferior in bone and size. 



Like Mr. Lukey, 1 like mastiffs to be truly handsome and 

 characteristic in head, and possessing high courage, however 

 defective in limbs and loin through bad rearing. As Mr. 

 Thompson said so tmly, "Outward appearances are such 

 very necessary points, that hidden treasures can never 

 wholly supply; in fact, iujmediately a dog comes before you, 

 the eye naturally ^vanders in search of this grand outward, 

 necessity. I think if a head measures a little more, if the 

 formation is defective, it loses caste." 



Mr. Wade t akes excention at my dictum that "badly reared, 

 crooked-limbed, but typical-headed specimens" should be 

 placed over animals showing evident signs of the hound and 

 other mongrel crosses. The instance of our grand-headed 

 Orlando shows the soundness of the dictum. His stock, 

 Holda, Mrs. Cantiffe Lee-s Rose, and others 1)y him, have 

 come out, under good rearers, remarkably good in body and 

 straight in limb, at the same time inheriting much of his 

 grandeur of head. Unless judges discoiu-age houndiness and 

 other signs of crossing, how can we conserve the mental 

 characteri.stics of the breed? 



Does Ml-. Wa.de think thistles will bear grapes? From a 

 dog Avdth houndy or faulty characteristics about the head 

 what does Mr. Wade or any one else hope or expect to get 

 but progeny showing the same and kindred signs of mon- 

 gi-elism ? 



Ilford Caution has been pulled to pieces and well abused 

 by men who know veiy little about the true tyj)eof the Eng- 

 lish mastiff, and still less about breeding and judging them. 



For my own part, I would sooner have Ilford Caution for 

 stud purposes than any other dog in America at the present 

 time. I say the present time, for I hear ±'200 has been offered 

 and, I am glad to hear, refused for Beaufort, the best all- 

 round specimen we have. 



Whatever Mes.srs. Haldeman and Wade may think, I can 

 assure them we had mastiffs fifteen years since, mth quite 

 as short an upper jaw and quite as much layback as Ilford 

 Caution has. 



I should have been content to bury the hatchet mth them 

 on the subject of mastiff type, but Mr. Wade has seen well, 

 owing to my silence, to "carry the war into Africa," as he 

 terms it. fiy opening fire on me on the subject in our Eng- 

 lish Stock-Keeper here he will simply be laughed at, and like 

 a second Don Quixote, knock himself out of time by attack- 

 ing that windmill, Dame Fashion; but I should be soitv for 

 your readers to think by mv .silence I am beaten, or funk the 

 subject. - M. B. WYSis'. 



England, 



TEACHING BEAGLES A THING OR TWO. 



LINDEN, Mass., Nov. 4. — We had laid our plans for a 

 rabbit hunt the 2Sth of October, to start at 6 A. M.; but 

 it was raining hard at that time, so we waited till 9 o'clock, 

 and by that time it was a little better weather: then, though 

 it was very misty and looked as though it might rain again 

 at any time, we decided to risk it and started off with, the 

 four beagles for an all day's hunt, and with the determination 

 of teaching our dogs to s"top at the hole after they had diiven 

 the rabbit m. The little brovvTi rabbits will not run over five 

 minutes before they run into their hole, and as soon as the 

 dogs had put them" in they would not stop at the hole, but us 

 off after another. Several men that have been out with be 

 occasionally got the impres.sion that they lo,st their game, 

 and we were bound to remedy it if possible, and we started 

 off this time with the idea that when we got home at night 

 our dogs would know a little more than when starting away, 

 We went into the woods and tramped over an hour without 

 a start, but at last we had one and it was a good one. It 

 proved to be an old one and gave the dogs a run of about ten 

 minutes, then went into a ground hole very near where they 

 started him. The minute the music ceased we knew he had 

 gone in, so we started for the spot and caught all the dogs 

 and commenced to dig the rabbit out, and give the dogs their 

 first lesson. The digging was C[uite hard and it was some 

 time before we got to where the game was, but when we got 

 to about a foot from him we held all the dogs so they could 

 see him, and then we let them go and they were very anxious 

 to get him out as they made the sand fly pretty fast for a few 

 moments. All at once the rabbit bolted out in the face and 

 eyes of them all and they made a jump for him, but he was 

 too quick for them and the way he went was a caution. By 

 the noise they made you wotild have thought there were a 

 dozen dogs instead of four. He ran but a few minutes before 

 he ran in again, and when we caught up to them one of the 

 dogs was in the hole as far as she could get and digging for 

 all she was worth, with the re.st of the pack looking on very 

 much interested. We took right hold and dug him out 

 again, and this time one of the dogs caught him as he started 

 to run out and quickly finished him. Then we started off to 

 hunt up another one and soon found one. He didn't run 

 two minutes before he went in, and we dug him out. Before 

 the afternoon was over we had dug out five rabbits, and 

 every hole the dogs would put one into after the first one we 

 would find them all there and one of the number would be 

 digging as hard as he or she could. We returned home 

 at 6 o'clock P. M. with five rabbits to our credit: three we 

 shot before the dogs and two the dogs killed in the hole. 

 We were very well satisfied with our day's Avork, and when 

 any of our friends go out with us again we can show them 

 jiLSt how many rabbits the dogs lose and how many they 

 drive in. It was the mo.st satisfactory hunt I ever had and 

 the music was the be,st I ever heard. W. S. C. 



S 



INQUIRY ABOUT MASTIFF PEDIGREES. 



EEING your editorial footnote under the above heading in 

 issueof JulySO Ibegtosay, Mr. Craighavingyvritten ask- 

 ing me to trace the pedigree of his dog Corsair for him I find, 

 after making the fullest inciuiry, that he has evidently been 

 swindled. No such persons as either Miles or iVnderso'n have 

 been known at Lochhead for the last fifteen years. No such 

 printer as McPherson is known in Aberdeen, and no such 

 dog as Ben Lomond is knoA^Ti to any Scotch mastiff-fancier 

 I have vsTitten to. The whole is evidently a make-up — seem- 

 ingly from entx-y No. 2,282 of the Kennel Club, which seems 

 to have furnished the groundwork for the invention. 



Tracing this unscmpulous pei-son's swindling fabrications 

 is so amusing that a slight exposition will not tire the honest, 

 and may deter other cheats, tor it ^dll show them that it is 

 of little use trying to forge pedigress, for .sooner or later they 

 are sure to be cletected and exposed. 



In order to fabricate the pedigi-ee, he has seemingly 

 thought yvell to get up a little British geography, and, 

 curiously enough, the places seem to intrude themselves 

 upon his mind while at his work for his Yankee dupes. No 

 doubt he thinks they will swallow an\1;hing in the way of 

 pedi.gree, however uii-English in idea the names may be. 

 The lively swindler seems to have attended a curriculum at 

 which the "noble Romans" (as the schoolboy says) were not 

 neglected, but his mind seems to have retained the names 

 ratiier than the morals of a Cicero, etc.; however his imagin- 

 ation, like that of Macbeth and mo.st rogues, evidently is 

 troubled with the unpleasant misgivings o£ a retribution- 

 Conscience, anticipating time, 

 Always rues the unacted crime.— RoT:eby— 



and, consequently, the names of Pluto and his Satanic 

 Majesty are seen crammed into the pedigrees, jumbled up 

 with that of Godolphin and other famous race-horses. Thus, 

 to fabricate pedigrees, this bungler appears to think a few 

 names from a geography as a basis, a few names from a 

 classical dictionary as packing, a few names from novels, 

 race-horses, etc., liy the way of spice, -with just a flavoring of 

 one or two noted mastiffs' names thrown in at random, Avill 

 pass muster vsdth the American gobe-m ouches. But this sort 

 of thing will not pass wdth an English breeder of twenty 

 years' experience, who wants no written pedigree to guide 

 iiim, being able to tell the strain a mastiff is of fairly well 

 on seeing the animal, or having it carefully and accurately 

 described. The bungling American pedigree forger has 

 evidently never taken it into consideration that there is such 

 a thing as family type. The old proverb, Nimquid q?otest, 

 flcus aleas facere, nut ryUus fieus, still holds good. Fox- 

 hounds will not throw bulldogs, neither from dogs of the 

 Salisbury and Monarch strain -will animals of the liing or 

 Crown Prince type be brought forth. I As ould warn Ameri- 

 can readers against purchasing imported stock from or 

 through professional American dog dealers, without having 

 the pedigree stated— aiithenticated by the English breeder, 

 and also' the owner of the sire given. If they would only 

 take this precaution we .should hear less inquiry about pedi- 



frees, and fewer refusals to enter in the American stud- 

 ooks, the compilers of which cannot be too careful and 

 strict. 



Mr. Craig states to me that he purchased his mastiffs, 

 Corsair and Bianca, both from Mr. Fred Grant, of Boston, 

 U. S., who has previously had "unpleasantry" over the 

 pedigrees of his dogs. On seeing the pedigree of Bianca I at 

 once pronounced it to be a sheer fabrication, and now that of 

 Corsair turns out the same. It remains with Mr. Fred Grant 

 to clear up the matter and satisfy Mr. Craig as best he can — 



for I may say in the words adapted from the "Antisillyass''- 

 Eureka, I have found him I 

 Herein is my reward; 

 Mayhap I have not hit him 

 Sufficiently hard. 

 He might have made his money, 

 In clean and wholesome ways, 

 But took to forging stud cards. 

 And also pedigrees. 

 Exegi, I have done it, 

 I have made my promise good; 

 I've caught the Stllyasst«s, 

 As I averr'd I would. 

 E\ireka, I have found him ! 

 And I had a deal of fuss, 

 Now sure, de repuhlica 

 Sum l)en6 meritus. 



—M. B. Wynn in Stock-Keeper. 



COURSING.— The long talked of coursing match between 

 the two greyhounds, Lady Harkaway and Duke of Belmont, 

 came oft' on Saturday. Nov. 27, on the open field between 

 South Belmont and West Farms, N. Y. The hares were 

 procured from the Green Mountains, Vermont, and although 

 confined on their way to New York four days, were in ex- 

 cellent condition , and showed a vast amount of speed and 

 endurance. J\lr. J. Malone, the owner of Lady Harkaway, 

 carried off the honor, his dog having gained all the points m 

 the second course. She took the first turn out of the hare, 

 had the go-by, made the second turn, and took the hare on 

 the straight" run. The first course was undecided, there 

 being some dissatisfaction on the part of the owner of Duke 

 at the way the dogs were slipped. Both courses were very 

 exciting, the fir.s-t lasting 8 and the second n3i>' minutes. The 

 decision of the judges, Messrs. ,J, Schaeffler and J. Crosby, 

 both experts on this sport, was very fair and satisfactory to 

 all parties concerned. Lady Harkaway shows excellent 

 qualities as a courser, and her owner feels confident that in 

 a very short time she will be able to compete Avith any grey- 

 hound in the country. Mr. Geo. N. Seger, Avho is not "in the 

 least discouraged at the defeat of his dog, has again chal- 

 lenged Mr, Malone, and wiW this time enter his bitch Maid 

 of Athens, mother of Duke, the run to come off over the 

 same course at an early date.— C. S. 



DOGS AND TRANSPORTATION.— New York, Nov. 13. 

 —Editor Forest and Stream: I notice that the Pennsyl- 

 vania R.R. has begun a much needed reform in the matter 

 of transporting dogs, and gunners can now have their point- 

 ers and setters checked through to different points for a 

 small consideration, without being robbed of all their small 

 change by baggage masters. This is amove in the right 

 direction!^ It is time this railway robbery were stopped. It 

 costs a man a small fortune nowadays to take a dog any 

 great distance. For instance, sui^pose you go from the Grand 

 Central station in New York to PennsyTvfi uia, Y"ou must hire 

 a cab to take you through New York, as dogs are not allowed 

 on elevated trains or horse cars, although ditmken men seem 

 to have that right. Then the baggage master on the railroad 

 wants half a dollar or as much more as he can get. I recently 

 took a trip to a toAvn in Pennsylvania for a few days' .shoot- 

 ing. The excursion rate on the railroad was $i. GO, the ex- 

 pense of taking my dog from Westchester county and return 

 was ^.70, ten cents more than it cost me for myself. I think 

 hunting trips would be taken by a great many more men if 

 the co,st of dog carriage was not r.o great. The railroad com- 

 panies should'be getting their eyes open to an abuse that has 

 already outlived the age in which it was bom. — Reform. 



AMERICAN KENNEL CLUB.— Might I .suggest that as 

 soon as practicable you should publish a list of the club 

 .shows wnich are members of the A. K. C? If you remem- 

 ber last season at New York I showed you the St. Louis 

 premium list, in which they stated that they pos.sessed the 

 membership, and it was only through your courtesy that J 

 was saved a long journey to that place. Surely the A. K. C. 

 should stop such piracy. —X. [The clubs n ow members, as _given 

 us by the secretary, are: Westminster, Philadelphia, Cincin- 

 nati, West Pennsylvania Poultry Society, New England, 

 Cleveland, New Haven, New Jersey, Hartford, National 

 Field Trial, Rhode Island, Hornell, American Fox-Terrier.] 



"VVTESTMINSTER KENNEL CLTIB SHOW.— Dec. 13.— 

 The Westminster Kennel Club will hold their eleventh 

 annual bench show of dogs at Madison Square Garden, on 

 May 3, 4, 5 and 6, 188T.— Jas. MoRTiMEK, Supt. 



KENNEL NOTES. 



Notes must be sent on prepared blanks, which are fur- 

 nished free on receipt of stamped and addressed envelope. 

 Sets of aOO of any one form, bound for retaining duplicates 

 are sent for 30 cents. 



NAMES CLAIMED, 



l^"' Notes must be sent on the Prepared Blanks. 



Daoo, Mojo and aaoe By A. P. Kitching, Roxbury, Mass., for 

 black, with white breast, and two black cocker spaniel bitches, 

 whelped July 1-i, 188G, by Ned Obo (Obo II., A.K.R. 432-Smut, 

 A.K.R. 858) out of Sparkle (PhiUip— Florence). 



Bo)/. By Frank F. Dole, Philadelphia, Pa., for wite hull-terner 

 dog, whelped Sept. 10. 1886, by Count (Marquis— Kit) out of Bertha 

 (Dutch, Jr.— Young Venom^. 



!iilvrr Bv Frank F. Dole, Philadelphia, Pa., for white buU-ter- 

 rier dog, whelped February, 1885. by Rebel (Echpse— Rose) out of 

 Lilly (Little ^ladmaii— Qneen). x ^ ■. -.l -i-t -u, , 



Brwc. Bv J. N. Holton. Jersey City, N. J., for Avlute, with black 

 spots, fox-terrier dog, As-helped May 6.1884, by Terror (E'ield's Tyke 

 — Belmont's Fide) out of Tassel (Field's Tyke— imported hitch). 



Lculy Croxteth. By B. F. Seitner, Dayton, O., for bitch registered 

 as Actress (A.K.R. 1343). •, t,i , 



Sili^la By A. C. Krueger, Wnghteville. Pa., for white, black 

 and tan bcaKle bitch, whelped May 13, 1886, by imported Riugwood 

 (Ranter— Beauty) out of imported ?Jimc. 



Little Queen. By A. C. Ki-ucgor, NVrightsviUe, Pa., for white, 



lack and tan ticked beagle bitch, whelped Oct. 11, 188b, by Racer 



ana tan ningnsu seiier uiiuu, wxiciijcu 



15.38) out of MorumgStar (A.K.R. 1541). , ^, , , 



Ddl B. By freo. W . Lovell, Middleboro, Mass., for black, white 

 and tan English setter bitch, whelped April 9, 1886, by Roderigo 

 (Count Noble— Twin Maud) out of Gypsey Maid (Dashing Lion— 



DUi'h! By Henrv H. Stoddard, New London, Conn., for orange 

 and white English setter bitch, whelped March 27, 1883, by Dr. 

 Stoddard's Breeze II. (Lathrop's Dick— Ely's Sylph) out of Dr. 

 Stoddard's Mag (Ely's Breeze— Stoddard's Flora). 



Kemi. By Edmn F. Bisliop, Buffalo, N. Y., for red Irish setter 

 dog, whelped May 9, 1886, by Elcho (A.K.R. 295) out of Ino (A.K.R. 



Toot. By J. L. Wvckoff, PeriT, N. Y., for black, white and tan 

 foxiiound bitch, whelped June 23, 1S86, by Roderick out of Spotty 

 (Music— Sailor). „ 



Nellie. By White Mountain Kennels, Littleton, ^. H., tor brm- 

 dle bull-terrier bitch, whelped Oct. 10, 16S4. by Trip (Balif— Sail) 

 out of Molly (Buchey— Old Bessie). ^ , , 



I'ilrn Graphic. By Geo. W. Loyell, Middleboro, Mass., for black, 

 white and ticked pointer dog, whelped Juufl 10, 1886, by Graphic 

 (A.K.R. 2411) out of Zitla (A.K.R. 1358). , , 



Monk. By J. E. Stryker, St. Paul, jSIinn., for imported red and 

 white St. Bernard dog, whelped June 25, 1SS6, by Barry n. out of 

 Bella. 



