CARNIVORA. 
215 
away, but was prevented ; and, on the faggots being 
removed, a hole was discovered in the ground, which 
contained the body of a sheep recently killed, and 
also a considerable quantity of salted meat. The 
dog was not brought to the scent until more than 
sixteen hours after the sheep had been stolen. 
The king of Saxony kept a breed of hounds of 
immense size and powers for boar hunting. They 
were larger and taller than our largest mastiff, and 
had the transverse dark shades on the body, which 
characterize this animal in general rather than 
the hound. The ground colour was white, and the 
markings of a reddish or brownish yellow in the 
different individuals. There is, in the museum of 
Dresden, a dwarf dog, which attained two years of 
age. Major Smith observed, that this diminutive 
animal measured only five inches and a half in length, 
which was just the length, from the corner of the eye 
to the tip of the nose, of a specimen of the Saxon 
boar-hounds he saw. 
The fox-hound is a smaller variety of the stag or 
blood-hound, used in fox-hunting. It is extremely 
persevering in the chase. 
The harrier is a still smaller variety of this species, 
used in hare-hunting. There are, again, particular 
breeds of the harrier, as the beagles, and southern 
hounds, which rather interest the sportsman than 
the zoologist. 
The name of talbot appears to have been applied 
to the several' varieties of the hound. 
