J6 
NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BLOOD-HOUND. 
rude rebuff from insolent game-keepers and aristocratic porters, many a blush, 
too, has it raised on my face when I have sought the presence (unintroduced) of 
some exalted possessor of a remarkable specimen of any of the objects of my 
inquiry. I have this much to say, however, that I have invariably found it the 
better plan, even at the expense of the fore-mentioned blushes, rather to introduce 
myself at once as “ A Student of Nature” to the principals themselves, than 
expose myself to the rudeness of ignorant hirelings. All my labour and all my 
mortifications have, however, been amply repaid by my success in at length 
obtaining the information I desired. I am at last able to declare my curiosity 
satisfied, and, with no small degree of pleasure, proceed to lay before the public 
some of the results of my tedious investigations. 
First, then, I shall treat of the blood-hound, not that I consider it superior in 
any respect, if, indeed, equal, to the Irish ^Volf-Dog, Boar-Dog, Dane, or Thibetian 
mastiff, but because I have observed that, especially in Dublin, more mistakes 
seem to prevail concerning him than any of the rest. Several very large spotted 
Dogs, for instance, in the possession of different individuals in this city, and 
styled blood-hounds, have about as much right to the appellation as the bull-Dog 
at my feet. These appear to be for the most part mongrels, bred originally from 
the great Dane or Boar-hound, with perhaps a tinge of Spanish blood-hound , some 
two or three generations back ; and I am convinced'that, so little are the varieties 
of the blood-hound known, there are few in Dublin but might be imposed upon if 
shown as such any large foreign-looking Dog with whose actual species they were 
unacquainted; and probably (as has actually come under my observation), were 
a genuine blood-hound to be shown them, they would reject him as spurious or a 
counterfeit; for the varieties of this Dog are far less striking in their appearance 
than some suppose, and in stature, or singularity of form and colour, fall far 
short of many of the above-mentioned mongrel, but splendid-looking pretenders. 
There are three Dogs at present known under the name of blood-hound, which, 
though by some considered distinct from one another, I am disposed to regard as 
varieties of the same animal, the difference in their appearance being probably 
owing to climate, if not, indeed, to some intentional or accidental cross. These 
varieties are the African, the Cuban or Spanish, and the British. 
The first, viz., the African, I am inclined to regard as the original whence the 
others sprang. The Cuban seems to have a dash of greyhound in him, and the 
British would appear to have been improved by the intermixture of the old 
English talbot, which I take to be a far more genuine as well as more ancient 
animal. 
The first to be described, therefore, is the African, and of him there must be 
the least known—as far, at all events, as regards his original extraction. The 
African blood-hound is very seldom to be seen in this country ; he sometimes 
