hospital at some little distance from the kennels must also be provided; this can be as elaborate or as simple as the Master pleases, but it must be warm and easily disinfected. Then there should also be a small separate kennel for the reception of strange hounds and for isolating those returned from strange kennels or a show, until one is assured that they are free from disease. Use every effort and take every precaution to prevent disease from getting into your pack, for once it obtains a footing the loss and trouble are often beyond calculation, and many a breeder has seen the work and pleasure of years swept away in a month—a depressing and disheartening experience indeed.

Having housed his Beagles, the Master will need to feed them. If the pack is in regular hard work, there is nothing to equal horseflesh; but otherwise it will be found too heating, and of course many Beagle packs would take too long getting through a horse. Whatever food is given, it is best to allow one full meal in the evening, and the smaller variety or delicate feeders will be all the better for a good piece of bread or biscuit in the morning from the Master's hand when making his inspection, which should be daily as a matter of course. Such numbers of "foods" are now made and advertised that every Master has an easy opportunity of trying for himself which suits his pack and pocket the best; but the results should be carefully watched. A change of food is often desirable, and the writer keeps three different "inakes" of food going at the same time.

When there is little or no work to be done, "wholemeal " bread and oatmeal biscuits from a reliable maker will be found excellent, healthy and staple foods at all times for a change. Feeding is an important part of kennel management, and should be attended to with the greatest care, greedy feeders being checked and shy hounds encouraged and favoured: it will often be found necessary to draw some hounds and feed separately. The smallest Beagles generally do best kept in rather high condition-of course not pig fat, as sometimes seen. Try and exercise Beagles every day, if only for a few minutes-it helps greatly to keep them in health.

When at work, remember Beagles are not Foxhounds. They will not stand much rating and very little whip-cord-the less the better; but the necessity arises sometimes, of course. Leave them alone as much as possible; interference seldom helps a Beagle. Let them trust to their noses and puzzle out a solution of the problem for themselves-that is true Beagle work. If you take no pleasure in watching ten or twelve couples of highly bred beauties working out the intricacies caused by the cunning of puss, but feel in a desperate hurry to drive on and catch your hare, then for goodness' sake leave Beagles alone and patronise small Harriers; with

these you will be able to cut in here and there, your "field" will run "to the Harriers" instead of "with the Beagles," and the number of your "kills " may be enormously increased.

Of course, in all hunting the "kill" is the climax, the final victory of the hounds over the quarry, and as such to be desired; but the true Beagler infinitely prefers a long run over a variety of ground, with all the vicissitudes of hope and fear culminating in the last wild excitement of bursting from scent to view of a failing hare just as dusk begins to replace the daylight; and we are all well content to make tracks for home when the last, even if also the first, triumphant "whoo-whoop" has died away upon the evening air.

CHAPTER XXII

THE BASSET-HOUND

SINCE the time of the gentleman who at one time wrote over the nom de guerre of "Snapshot," and who is better known to the present generation of doggy men as "Wildfowler," the Basset-hound has, in this country, attained to very considerable numerical strength. The fact that Mr. Everett Millais, when acting as judge at the show held at the Royal Aquarium, Westminster, in 1886, had 120 entries to deal with, shows that admirers of the breed have not been wanting; and that exhibition was in strong contrast to the timenot more than ten years before-when Lord Onslow and Mr. Everett Millais were the only exhibitors of these crook-legged, slow hounds, and had to show them in the omnium gatherum class, which may be described as the show committee's finest-mesh net, that secures all the fish and finance that escape the regulation nets.

Though it will be necessary to take a closer view of the Basset in England since his introduction into this country, yet the following remarks, contributed by "Wildfowler" to the original edition of this work, are so interesting that they merit reproduction.

"Snapshot" was a frequent contributor, under that signature, to the Country, and was also well known as "Wildfowler" of the Field; he was the author of numerous canine articles and works, including "General Sport at Home and Abroad," "Modern Wildfowling," etc. His experience with Continental sporting dogs was considerable, which gives weight and value to his article on Bassets. He says:

"Any hound which stands lower than 16in. (no matter his 'provincial' breed) is called in France and in Belgium a Basset. The derivation of the expression Basset is clear: bas means low; and, therefore, Basset means low set, a very appropriate denomination as applied to these diminutive hounds.

The vast army of French and Belgian Bassets may be divided into three grand classes-viz. Bassets à jambes droites (straightlegged), ditto à jambes demi-torses (with fore legs half crooked), and

ditto à jambes torses (fore legs fully crooked). And in each of these classes will be found three varieties of coats-viz. the Bassets à poil ras (smooth-coated), those à poil dur (rough-coated), and a class half rough, half smooth-coated, which is called half griffon.

The types vary for almost each province, but the general characteristics remain throughout pretty well the same. All wellbred Bassets have long, pendulous ears and hounds' heads; but the crooked-legged breeds show always better points in these respects. than the straight-legged ones, simply because, when a man wishes to breed a good Basset à jambes torses, he is obliged to be very careful in selecting the stock to breed from, if he does not wish his experiment to end in failure, for, should there be the slightest admixture of foreign blood, the 'bar sinister' will be at once shown in the fore-legs. Hence the Bassets à jambes torses show, as a rule, far better properties than their congeners.

In build the Basset à jambes torses is long in the barrel, and is very low on his pins; so much so that, when hunting, he literally drags his long ears on the ground. He is the slowest of hounds, and his value as such cannot be over estimated. His style of hunting is peculiar, inasmuch that he will have his own way, and each one tries for himself; and if one of them finds, and says' so, the others will not blindly follow him and give tongue simply because he does (as some hounds, accustomed to work in packs, are apt to do); but, on the contrary, they are slow to acknowledge the alarm given, and will investigate the matter for themselves. Thus, under covert, Bassets à jambes torses following a scent go in Indian file, and each one speaks to the line according to his own sentiments on the point, irrespective of what the others may think about it. In this manner, it is not uncommon to see the little hounds, when following a mazy track, crossing each other's route without paying any attention to one another; and, in short, each of them works as if he were alone. This style I attribute to their slowness, to their extremely delicate powers of scent, and to their innate stubborn confidence in their own powers. Nevertheless, it is a fashion which has its drawbacks; for, should the individual hounds hit on separate tracks of different animals, unless at once stopped, and put together on the same one, each will follow its own find, and let the shooter or shooters do his or their best. That is why a shooter who is fond of that sort of sport rarely owns more than one or two of these hounds. One is enough, two may be handy in difficult cases, but more would certainly entail confusion, precisely because each one of them will rely only on the evidence of his own senses.

I have now several clever Bassets à jambes torses in my mind's eye, and their general description would be about as follows: Height, between 10in. and 15in. at shoulder; longish barrels ; very

crooked fore legs, with little more than an inch or two of daylight between the knees; stout thighs; gay sterns; conical heads; long faces; ears long enough to overlap each other by an inch or two (and more sometimes) when both were drawn over the nose; heavy-headed rather, with square muzzles; plenty of flews and dewlap; eyes deep set, under heavy wrinkles; fore paws wide, and well turned out; markings, hare-pied and white, black tan and white, tan and white, black with tan eyebrows, and tan legs and belly, etc.-in short, all the varieties of hound markings will be found among them. They have excellent tongues for their size, and when in good training and good condition they will hunt every day, and seem to thrive on it. They are very fond of the gun, and many are cunning enough to 'ring' the game, if missed when breaking covert, back again to the guns until it is shot. Some of these Bassets are so highly prized that no amount of money will buy them; and, as a breed, it may safely be asserted that it is probably the purest now in existence in France. They hunt readily deer, roebuck, wild boars, wolves, foxes, hares, rabbits, etc., but if entered exclusively to one species of quarry, and kept to it, they never leave it to run riot after anything else. I have seen one, when hunting a hare in a park, running through fifty rabbits and never noticing them. They go slowly, and give you plenty of time to take your station for a shot-hence their great value in the estimation of shooters. They are chiefly used for smallish woods, furze fields, and the like, because, if uncoupled in a forest, they do not drive their game fast enough; and though eventually they are bound to bring it out, yet the long time they would take in so doing would tell against the sport. Moreover, large forests are cut about by ditches, and here and there streamlets, boulders, and rocks intervene, which difficulty the short, crooked-legged hound would be slow in surmounting. He is, therefore, not so often used there as for smaller coverts, where his voice can throughout the hunt be heard, and thereby direct the shooters which post of vantage to take.

As regards the coats of Bassets à jambes torses, there are both rough, half-rough, and smooth-coated specimens; but the last two predominate greatly; in fact, I have but rarely seen very rough Bassets à jambes torses. I saw three once, in the Ardennes. They were very big hounds for Bassets, and were used chiefly to drive wolves, roebuck, and wild boars. They were à poil dur with a vengeance, and, when' riled,' their backs were up like bristles. Of course, in these matters the chasseurs breed their hounds according to the ground they have to hunt over; and, consequently, in provinces of comparatively easy coverts, such as vineyards, small woods, furze fields, etc., smooth-coated or half rough-coated Bassets are in universal demand. In Brittany, Vendée, Alsace, Lorraine, Luxemburg, on the contrary, wherever the coverts are extensive