ON BREEDING HOUNDS.

BY THISTLEWHIPPER.

WHILE the hunter has been the subject of almost constant panegyric with sporting writers, it seems to me somewhat strange that the merits of his companion, the hound, should be so much overlooked; in fact, I scarcely know of an author who has done justice to his combined good qualities of sagacity, courage, and stoutness.

Oh that "Nimrod" would take the hound under his protection, and from his stores of information show him up as he deserves! It is true he has described the shape of certain hounds; but from such a pen as his I should glory in seeing their performances recorded. Should he become the biographer of celebrated hounds, I should expect with increased interest the monthly appearance of the N. S. M. The indifference I have witnessed on so many occasions has often exceedingly surprised me. Out of a field of one hundred and fifty persons who call hemselves sportsmen, you will not see more than two or three noticing the hounds. After spending the evening with sportsmen, who, from their conversation, might be supposed to live in the saddle, and who seemed to consider hunting as the greatest of all earthly enjoyments, I have gone into a kennel the next morning with those very men, and observed that though they constantly and regularly hunted with them, they did not know the name of a single hound; and while I have been in conversation with the huntsman, have seen them stand with their backs against the wall as unconcerned as if they were amid a lock of sheep. Look at a perfect fox-hound as he stands before you, and show me an animal in the whole creation so admirably formed for speed and endurance ! Although, during a chase, he not unfrequently covers nearly twice as much ground, yet he tires the fox, the deer, and the horse. In pursuit of his game he fearlessly plunges into the rapid stream, dashes impetuously down the dangerous steep, and unhesitatingly forces his way through the prickly gorse and thickly entangled thorns and briars. Look at him the next morning as with a groan, expressive of his pain, he stiffly rises from the bench, his chest raw, his stern half stripped, his nose swelled, and his eyes sore; and although he can scarcely see you, yet when he hears your voice, he gently hails you with a whine of recognition. Your kindly notice cheers him, he forgets his sores, soon recovers his activity, and is ready for your service again. The man who can witness this, and be unmindful of the merits of the hound, is unworthy of participating in the joys of the chase.

Although I have said, in a former number, that I have possessed every description of hound, I would not have it supposed that I am a

NO. LXX.-VOL. XII.

H

person of extensive possessions, and keeping a splendid hunting establishment; on the contrary, I have a very limited income, out of which I set apart a certain sum for hunting, and am desirous of obtaining the greatest possible quantum of it, at the least possible expense, and have so contrived it as to have had at least four days a week during the season, for the last thirty years. Although in a rich and highly cultivated neighbourhood, I have, from the kindness of the surrounding gentry and farmers, an unmolested range over a great extent of country. I have thus been enabled to indulge in my favourite fancy, and to make those experiments with hounds, which I am now about to communicate.

The hound I had been accustomed to in early life, was a short-legged bony harrier, kept by a relation with whom I constantly hunted, and who was so prejudiced in favour of his own breed, that he refused to cross them, and bred in and in for such a length of time that they became very slack, and had no press in them. After he gave them up, I accidentally saw Lord Maynard's beagles out, and was delighted with them. As a proof of their excellence, they were considered worthy of a place in the kennel of George the Fourth. I succeeded in procuring a couple of bitches in whelp, and the produce was every thing, as far as their power went, that I had anticipated. They would kill their first hare beautifully, but if the country was deep, from their want of bone, before they could finish the second they were spun up. I long had a notion that the disparity in the olfactory organs of dogs of different kinds, was not so great as was generally supposed, but that the difference lay in the application of their powers; and I was confirmed in my opinion by observing one day, in rabbit shooting, a Dutch pug go away with a hare, which he ran for a quarter of an hour as steadily as any harrier,

I next resolved to make the beagles the standard by which I might test the excellence of every kind of hound, and first mixed with them some old Southerns, and tried them at a trail on some grass land. My complaint against the beagles was a want of press. At a dirty gateway, or the stain of sheep, they would hunt inch by inch, and take ten minutes to do what might be done in one, and I must confess I lost my patience at seeing them pottering so long, when a gentle feel forward would get over the difficulty. I am delighted to see all the mazes of the chase fairly unravelled by the hound; but I like it done sufficiently quick to keep us something like warm; I care not how long they are in killing their hare, if they do but keep moving. To the Southern the objection is still greater. His dull monotonous toll is unpleasing, for after throwing up his head with a roar sufficient to shake the tiles off a house, to announce that the hare has done something which she alone could do for herself, he will go back five minutes after to the same spot and again make proclamation of his discovery. Now there is no enduring this

on a cold day, unless with a great coat on and the ears stuffed with cotton. The activity of the beagle at least gives you hope, although they bustle about and cover no more ground than, to use an elegant term, "all round my hat," yet their activity is exciting, and keeps the mind occupied. In the harrier you run into the other extreme; there is a flashiness about them that makes you fear they have gone with their heads up, over the scent; and you never feel satisfied that the ground has been fairly covered; for instead of trying for it they are looking at each other, and if a hound puts his nose down, they dash at him, and should it be riot, push him on, more particularly if they are too free with their tongues. If the scent is good, and but few difficulties occur, they will give you a merry burst for forty minutes; and if you have a couple or two of good old steady line hunting hounds, you may get up to puss and kill her.

My next trial was with a blood-hound, and I had heard so much of the extraordinary tenderness of their noses, that I watched this experiment with more than common attention. I entered him at hare, and after he had been well blooded, a steadier or better hound I never would wish to follow, but he could not stand the work, although he had better back, legs, and feet than blood-hounds generally have; the pace told on him, and he betrayed a want of stoutness.

I had long been prejudiced in favour of the fox-hound, and in order to have a fair trial, I was presented by that real "old English gentleman," the late Mr. Hanbury, with a couple of large, powerful bitches, which he had had in a draft from Lord Fitzwilliam. They entered very steadily, and I found this great advantage in them, that after they had satisfied themselves where the line of scent was, they would feel on; and in a turnip country where your hare is constantly running through sheep, this is of essential service. Perhaps ten times a day this would occur, and while all the others were puzzling about on the sheep stain, they would go forward beyond it, and recover the scent. I have entered many young fox-hounds since, and feel thoroughly satisfied, that a foxhound will hunt as low a scent as any species of hound, provided you let him alone, and that the only difference lies in the manner they are hunted. Take a long pole, and go on foot, and you may teach them to hunt a hare from morning till night, as well as a pack of Southerns. It is true they will not make so much noise about it, but the feathering of the one will show you the line, as well as the bellowing of the other. I freely acknowledge, that I am not fond of a "tonguy" hound, and am entirely of Mr. Meynell's opinion, that a hound cannot be too silent, particularly a young one. If he is free of his tongue as a puppy, he is almost certain to become a babbler; and of all vices in a pack that is the greatest, and the most contagious. A hound, like man, is, in a great measure, the creature

of education; what is called a fox-hound, is not naturally more fond of a fox than any other hound is, but from his size and power he is better adapted for that particular chase, and man has encouraged him in it, and made it his business. When I had the two aforesaid bitches from Mr. Hanbury, and nobody will deny that they were thorough-bred,) one of them was rather wide in a field one day, when a fox jumped out of a hedge and ran past her down wind. From hearing a shout, and seeing the others, she dashed at him, but the moment she crossed the line of scent, she stopped suddenly short. About a week ago, a fox rolled out of a stubble shock before those I have now, and although there are several young fox-hounds among them, yet when he broke view they did not care to hunt it; indeed a couple of them left and came to my horse, and instead of being angry with them, I regarded their indifference as a proof of their steadiness. The others were very careless about it, and soon gave it hp. When we consider the care and attention with which fox-hounds are bred, we need not be surprised at their excellence. However breeders may differ in their opinions as to large and small ones, there can be no doubt but they agree in breeding from hounds which are noted for their steadiness and invincible stoutness. In hare hunting with dwarf fox-hounds, you must be silent as an oyster crossed in love, and keep far enough behind them.

When on their mettle they are ripe for any mischief, and the least noise or pressing upon them will be sure to make them flashy; but sit still, hold your tongue, and let them alone, and you will find they will hunt through their difficulties, and give you a beautiful run of an hour and a half. But if you mar the spit, and cap them to views, and halloos, why in fifteen or twenty minutes puss is in the hare case, if there is a scent,-if not, you may hunt it yourself. The dash that distinguishes them, if properly regulated, will render them fatal to whatever they pursue. They are like a high couraged horse, which properly handled will be every thing you can wish, but hurry or irritate them, and they will both get into mischief. Young hounds are often condemned for being slack and not entering, but I have no hesitation in saying that the very best hounds I have ever seen, were slow to enter; and in that opinion I am borne out both by Somerville and Beckford. It sometimes appears to me an unpardonable piece of arrogance on my part, to attempt a subject on which the above authors have so well and so ably written, but it amuses me, and if it amuses another, my purpose is answered.

As it is rather applicable to my purpose, I cannot in a better place notice the observations of your correspondent, Mr. Lethbridge, in volume xth of the N.S. M. page 138. I was at the warren on the day he mentions, and saw the "white Collar," and if I am any judge of the human

countenance, I do not know any one less inclined to say an unkind or ungenerous thing than the wearer, and in the same spirit of fairness, I beg to combat his reasoning on the comparative excellence of the different packs. The question he appears to raise is, "are large or small hounds the best?" And he himself seems to prefer the small ones, and so would any one if they would answer the purpose as well. Any feeder will tell you that fifty couple of small hounds can be kept at a much less expense than forty couple of large ones; and the keep of ten couple of hounds is an object in these difficult times, when subscriptions, like an old maid's valentines, and a "poor gentleman's" rents, come slowly in. In a light country, with the kennel in its centre, and for short days, I will go the whole length with him in selecting a neat little hound. But how stands the case with the Cambridgeshire, which are designated as coarse looking hounds? Their kennel is quite out of their country, and more than four miles from their nearest cover, (for the warren is only a prelude to a draw,) and their two most distant ones, viz. Brampton and Madingley twent, making an average of twelve miles to cover; their country too is exceedingly heavy, and chiefly under the plough. Now what could such bounds as the little bitches of Mr. Dansey (which are held up for admiration) do, were they to leave their kennel at half past seven in the morning, (as is often the case,) and return at eight in the evening, with perhaps a pound of clay hanging to each leg, the greater part of the day?

How often have I seen, in the morning, the little ones frisking in front for thirty minutes; and at the end of twenty minutes more, on climbing a heavy hill, how often have I seen the big ones stealing away from them, and doing all the work! When, like Mr. Lethbridge, I was a stickler for small hounds, I often asked myself if I could be right in entertaining an opinion opposite to the practice of the present father of fox-hunting, the renowned John Warde; and observation and experience has convinced me I was wrong, and I am not ashamed to avow it; and if I were to become a breeder of fox-hounds, I should adopt the advice of the dying huntsman to his son:" Whatever you do, Tom, breed them with plenty of bone!" I now take the opportunity of offering a suggestion, which I hope will be taken up by some influential individual, and which, about ten years since, I hinted to Mr. Hanbury, the intimate friend of Colonel Cook, who at that time was compiling his book on Fox-hunting, and who, I have every reason to think, adopted the sentiment. I have not, indeed, seen the work, but I do remember about that time, some observations appeared in the Old Sporting Magazine, by Nimrod, opposing it on the ground that no two men had yet agreed what a perfect fox-hound is. What I ventured to suggest was, that there should be annually at Tattersall's, on the Monday in the