Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/297

HOUND. 237 HOUND. ence; such are the Belvoir (founded, 1756), the Quorn, and tlie Cottesniores. Where the game chased is as swift and crafty as the fox, and the country as open, yet studded with hedgerows and walls, which act as an ever- recurring screen from sight, it follows that the pursuing hound must have unfailing powers of scent, endurance, and swiftness. These are the three characteristics of the bonj', muscular, com- pact, big-bodied, typical foxhound. His height is not so material as are other points; 23 to 24 inches at the shoulder is a safe medium. Xor is color imperative, though necessarily, from the jealousy with which the breed has been guarded, there are no variations outside the yellow or tan, black and white, in ever-varying and clearly marked blotches over the whole body. The head should have a girth in front of the ears of fully 16 inches; the nose should be 4i inches long, and •wide, with open nostrils, and ears set low and lying close to the cheeks. The neck should taper from the shoulders to the head. The chest of a dog 24 inches high should be more than 30 inelies in girth, to give the necessary lung capacity, and the ribs mu.st be deep and grade into the loins without an observable break. The hind quarters must be very strong, and the front legs straight and strong. So important are these two features that in judging they call for 20 points out of the total 100. Tlie modem dog, being better trained, is lighter than his ancestor; 70 to 80 pounds is the limit of a dog's weight, and the female may be ten pounds lighter. In America the local conditions differ so wide- ly, and are so various, that it is almost impos- sible to define the American foxhound. In some districts, like Maryland and in the Genesee Val- ley, the fox is followed very much after the English fashion, on horseback, over rolling grass- lands; elsewhere, the dog does the hunting and the man waits behind a wall on the supposed runway with a gun ; in a third, the men follow the dogs afoot ; in still others, they hunt the fox at night. It follows, therefore, that the dogs locally needed must be as various as the methods, and they are so; but. speaking broadly, and of the hound favored by the American Foxhound Club, it need only be said that it is bred on lighter and finer lines than its English ancestor. It is shorter at the shoulder — 21 to 23^4 inches — and weighs not more than 57 pounds. The chest is narrower in proportion to depth than the English standard; 20 inches in a 23'4-inch hound is considered good. In m-jst other re- spects, naturally the requiremjnts are very sim- ilar. One minor point of some importance may be noticed: the English dog always has his ears artificially rounded, while the American dog re- tains them untrimnied. The II-VREier. From the earliest times the hare has been hunted by dogs. There is a cameo among the Greek gems which depicts him chased by his especial enemy, the long dog or grey- hound; but he had an equally persistent foe in the old Southern hound, the immediate ancestor of the modern harrier. The original harriers must not be confused with the dwarf foxhound, which does duty as a harrier to-day. It was onlv after the draining and elearinsr of England and Ireland at the besinnincr nf the nineteenth century, when, for the first time, the chase could be followed on horseback, that the old Sussex blue-mottled harrier, the first step in refining the old stock, came into fashion. The persistence with which a scent-hunted hare can be worried by dogs with good noses, and the sport it afforded to watch the tricks and subtleties of hare and hounds, made hare-hunting verj' popular. In order further to insure the needed qualities, the smaller foxhound strain was called into requisi- tion, and "Tyrant,' a sire from the Duke of Graf- ton's kennel, became the foundation of the pack of Sir John Dashwood King, of West Wycombe, whence the strain spread throughout Great Britain. There are still packs of the older and slower kind, however, and there is a 'standard of points,' but it is scarcely worth repeating here. TirE Be.gle. The harrier looks like a diminu- tive foxhound, and the beagle looks like a diminutive harrier; but he is not that. He haa a most ancient lineage, and for beauty of form, gentleness of manner, sweetness of voice, and hunting qualities he has no equal. The length of the separate existence of the beagle has allowed opportunity for many varieties besides the 'rough' and the 'smooth.' A very pygmy breed called 'lap-dog beagle' was once popular. So small were one pack of these that the whole ten or twelve couples were carried to the field in a pair of panniers slung across a horse. Even the common-sized beagle is slow enough to allow any ordinarily active man to follow the chase afoot. There is a Beagle Club in America which sets the standard, and field trials are annually held under its auspices. Though diminutive, some classes not exceeding 15 inches, the beagle is every inch a dog, with a wiry frame and a determined, though placid, look. His standard of form closely follows that of the foxhound. The B.sset. This dog is the French equiva- lent of the English beagle, inasmuch as he is the diminutive of an ancient breed, and his quany is the rabbit. In other respects, as the beagle follows the characteristics of the old Southern hound, the basset resembles their other ancient common ancestor, the bloodhound. His body is longer, and his legs even shorter than the beagle's. His head is long and narrow, with heaxy flews, and his forehead wrinkled to the eyes, which, like the bloodhound's, show the haw; his expression is dignified : the neck is very powerful, with heay dewlaps, and the ears so long he is likely to tread on them, for his legs are not more than four inches long. The stifles are bent, and the quarters full of muscle. He is very barrel-like, and has a character easily recog- nized. TttE D.CHSHrjfD. Except that this dog hunts rabbits, and, like the beagle and the basset, is short on the leg and long in the body, he has nothing in common with the others. He is a curious mixture. He has the smooth coat and body of a pointer, the tail and nose of a black and tan terrier, the ear of a foxhound, with more than the foxhound's sensitiveness, the hinder legs taller than the front ones, and the latter comical- ly bowed. He is a very ancient breed. One of his kind is painted on an Egyptian monument of the period c.c. 2000. He has many modern admirers, and a club devoted to his interests, whose standard calls for a general appearance long, low, and graceful — not cloddy — a wedge- shaped head, long and lean, broadest at its base; skull moderately arched, bridge of nose somewhat curved or nearly straight, no stop; muzzle strong, not snipy, but fairly pointed, with open