Melbourne dog shows these Bassets have proved a great attraction. The usual mode of following Basset hounds is on foot, and by so doing some excellent hunting is seen. It seems really wonderful how quickly the heavily-bodied, short-legged hounds get over the ground.

There are some earnest sportsmen who prefer hunting the hare with the Basset rather than with the Beagle or Harrier. With the former, those on foot are certainly likely to see more of the run, and have, if their lungs be sound and their legs strong, a very good chance of being in at the death, though the chase may last a couple of hours or more. Harriers would kill a similar "jack hare" in less than half an hour. Small beagles might perform the same feat in an hour or so. The latter are certainly the brighter and merrier hunters, and possess a greater amount of dash and go than the short-legged, heavily-bodied hounds; the latter, perhaps, excelling in voice. I do not think the Basset more painstaking and careful on a cold line than the Beagle.

The Field from time to time gives accounts of runs with Basset-hounds, and some of those with the Sussex pack appear to have been particularly satisfactory. The Basset has a particularly fine voice, the tone of some of them almost as

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lovely as that the otter-hound can produce. is slow on scent, and, of course, his long body and short crooked legs quite put him out of court as likely to be of use in a stone wall country.

A pack can kill a hare well enough, but after the fox such hounds would not be of the slightest use; and even after the hare the Bassets require to be on an easy country, where the fences are few and the hills neither too steep nor too rough. On the Continent the various strains of the Basset-hound are used for beating and working the coverts, being utilised exactly in the same way as we in this country work spaniels, and, in a few cases, beagles.

There is a Basset Hound Club in England, which was established in 1883, and, by providing special prizes at various exhibitions, in many cases classes are placed in the schedule which, under ordinary conditions, would not be found there. Personally I have never owned a Basset. I have admired them, and recollect how favourably I was struck with the appearance of a team that Mr. Everett Millais showed at Wolverhampton about thirteen years ago, and alluded to earlier in this chapter. They were little known then, but certainly on that occasion formed one of the features of an interesting provincial show. Since that time (and before) Mr. Millais has perhaps taken more interest

in the Basset than any other Englishman, and may be considered the British authority on the variety, so no doubt what he has so kindly supplied will prove a valuable contribution on the subject.

Our typical Basset hound has been fully described earlier in this chapter. The club which looks after his welfare has not had any special scale of points drawn up, and in the absence of such I have com

Weight, dogs from 40lb. to 48lb.; bitches about

5lb. less.