Early History 
expression in so many of them, he can well imagine 
that the fox terrier or some of the other terrier 
varieties have had something to do ith the forma¬ 
tion of certain strains. 
The southern hound type as exemplified by the 
Kerry beagle, however, is the preponderating influ¬ 
ence and it is from this variety that the beagle 
inherits his keen nose. But the Kerry beagle is 
scarcely an influence in our present day beagle, and 
it is doubtful if his blood is to be found in any 
of the modern strains. As a matter of fact, the 
Kerry being a dog ranging as high as twenty-four 
inches at shoulder, is more likely to be one of the 
crosses that entered into the composition of our 
American foxhounds and coonhounds. I have often 
thought that, though the coonhound is supposed to 
be of plebeian birth, if his ancestry could be traced, 
it would be found that he has as royal blood in his 
veins as any of our present day dogs and it is beyond 
dispute that his nose is keener than the average 
type of hound. No doubt the Kerry beagle is 
responsible for this. 
The American foxhounds, known as the Henry 
strain, are also said to be descendants of the 
Kerry beagle. 
However, when all is said, hounds of various 
types, colors and sizes came to this country in 
Colonial days and the early history of the beagle 
is therefore analogous with that of the pointer and 
the setter. Early importations of these varieties 
came over from that sport-loving nation—England 
—and no records having been kept, they were 
known in later days as natives. Beagles were in 
