adding another mile to the hunt. His meets last season were every Saturday at ten o'clock from November to April. He also shoots rabbits over them. Mr. Lord's beagles are from 11 inches to 12 inches in height.

Mr. Crofton, who has kept beagles for more than twenty-five years, likewise uses his for rabbit hunting, rabbit shooting, and an occasional drag hunt. He prefers them 10 inches, or as much under as he can get them. His earliest hound was picked up in Winchester, an almost perfect little fellow, which belonged to a builder there; there was no pedigree with Pilot, but his blood must. have been of the purest, as when mated with a bitch obtained from a gamekeeper not far from Stockbridge, excellent puppies resulted. Later, another bitch was added to these kennels from Sussex, but, owing to various circumstances, Mr. Crofton was never able to attain to the dignity of the mastership of a full pack. Still, he has always had a few couples of hounds not exceeding 10 inches, and his smallest were a couple which did not exceed 8 inches. These were excellent workers, and lovely little pets. One was presented to a lady who resided in London, and the way it contrived to find material to hunt in Kensington Gardens was extremely funny. It went away on the line, throwing its voice merrily, much to

the amusement of everyone.

Mr. Crofton doubts if

he ever possessed a more perfect beagle than this little favourite called Tiny.

As to breeding beagles, Mr. Crofton says that he is in favour of breeding in and in to a considerable extent, but when he finds that the puppies are deteriorating in any point, he buys a young bitch whose pedigree he knows to be good, and particularly strong, even to exaggeration, in certain points where the others fail. This is better than using a strange dog hound. His beagles, with slight exceptions, are kept in kennels, and after a day amongst the rabbits care is taken that they are thoroughly dried before being fastened up for the night. By judicious treatment Mr. Crofton finds his little favourites to be quite hardy, well able to do severe work, and are not more liable than other dogs to disease. Moreover, he considers his smallest hounds the best workers, and the most intelligent and pleasant as companions. These rabbit beagles weigh pretty heavily for their size, owing no doubt to their thickness of bone and strong backs; such as are about twelve inches run from 13lb. or 14lb. to nearly 17lb. each; whilst the eight and ten inch go up to 9lb. or 10lb. in weight.

Perhaps there is a fashionable future for these

L

miniature hounds, especially as the Beagle Club is encouraging them. Previously they were heavily handicapped in the show ring by having to compete against larger hounds, and here, as in coursing and horseracing, "a good big 'un can always beat a good little 'un." Still, there is a quaintness and a character about these rabbit beagles which I always greatly admired, and their merry movements and silvery cry after their game delighted me much. It does not matter much what colour the beagle is; many prefer the blue mottles, but any hound colour will do even black and tan.

During the past few years the wire coated beagle has not been much in evidence, and few seem to care for them now that Mr G. H. Nutt has given over his pack. It has been said most of these "wirehairs" contained a terrier cross, which showed itself in the production of shy puppies distinctly deficient in voice. Mr. Gwynne, of Folkington, Sussex, however, owns a nice little pack of wire coated hounds which are entirely free from any suspicion of terrier strain. Some fifteen or sixteen years ago Mr. Gwynne obtained two and a half couples which he was told had been produced with wire coats through a remote cross with the otter hound. Long before that time a Sussex farmer kept a few couples of the wire haired beagles at Chiddingly ;

they stood about fourteen inches, and bore a reputation of "always being able to kill their hare, however bad a scenting day it was." Mr. Gwynne keeps them chiefly for rabbit shooting, and they work wonderfully well. The kennels contain some seven or eight couples (not including puppies), and the endeavour is to keep them to about thirteen inches in height, but some are an inch less, others an inch or so over the standard. Since Mr. Gwynne has devoted attention to them, he has been compelled to use a smooth beagle as an out-cross.

In 1892, a stud book of packs of beagles was published by Waterlow's, it forming part of the one for harriers already alluded to. The first volume contained the names of a dozen packs only (there were over double that number in existence), which are supposed to be a foundation stock, but I am afraid that some of the entries are not so pure as many of our show hounds, which were not included; nor were Mr Crane's, Mr Nutt's, and Mr Ryan's, the latter the Kerry beagles, alluded to later on. The volume has been continued yearly, but with no improvement, so far as the hounds specified are concerned.

It is common knowledge that masters of hounds abominate dog shows; still when the very best of a variety are to be found oftener on the bench

than in the field, animosity against exhibitions must be sunk. Most of the packs entered in the Stud Books, consist of big, rather large hounds, many from thirteen to sixteen inches, and the oldes'i pack is the Royal Rock, hunting from nea Birkenhead, Cheshire, established in 1845 by Colonel Anstruther Thompson, who brought them out of Essex. The Bronnwyd beagles, Sir Marteine Lloyd's, with the kennels at Llandyssil, South Wales, in his family since 1846, have been carefully bred from true strains. The Cheshire Beagle Hunt Club have some hounds good both in appearance and work, which on more than one occasion have won leading honours at Peterborough. Christ Church, Oxford, has beagles of its own, originally established in 1874, but the pack experienced vicissitudes, especially in 1886, when, dumb madness breaking out, the entire kennel were destroyed. The then Master, Mr. F. B. Craven, soon obtained twelve couples of merry little hounds, and the establishment is now as strong as ever. Near London, at Surbiton, Colonel Turner and Mr J. Fisher are joint masters of the hounds which Mr. R. W. Cobb got together in 1882, and the Stud Book (1895) includes the Cursis Stream Beagles, with kennels at Chapelizod, near Dublin, Mr. J. Godley being master. The Peover, Cheshire, Mr. R. L. Crank