Still, allowing to the fullest extent for the different sort of hound required to meet the needs of a different sort of country, the English Foxhound should in make and shape follow closely certain well-defined lines. Thus, the head should be of fair size and well balanced; good length of skull and muzzle, which should be broad with wide nostrils; the eye should have a bold, keen, determined look, and the whole head denote power. The neck should be long, clean, and muscular, quite free from dewlap, except when such is characteristic of a particular strain. The shoulders are very important; they should be nicely sloped, and free from any suspicion of being "loaded." It is generally considered that to insure speed the elbows should be perfectly straight in a line with the body. The chest should be deep, ribs coming down well, giving a certain appearance of squareness; the back and loins should be very strong and disclose to the touch any amount of muscle; the thighs should be full of power and muscle. The legs should be straight as gun-barrels and the bone great. A failure here is fatal: these legs have to carry a heavy hound for many miles at a great pace over every sort of country, consequently "legs" are the first thing at which a huntsman looks; but bad feet will render good legs useless, so see that the feet are round and compact, with a hard, firm pad and strong nails. The stern should be thick at the root, gradually tapering, carried well up, and is usually fringed slightly with longish hair. The coat should be short, dense, and rather hard in texture ; but as a final covering for all these excellent "points" we must have a coating of "quality." A horse or a hound without "quality" is never really pleasing, and a pack of Foxhounds failing in quality can never be regarded with strong approval. Such is a verbal description of a high-class Foxhound (Fig. 48); but an object-lesson is worth all the written descriptions ever published, and any one wishing to make a study of the breed cannot do better than pay a visit to the summer Hound Show held annually at Peterborough, where he will see Foxhounds in perfection from some of the best packs in England, and as only the very best are sent, the eye is not so confused as when a whole pack is under inspection.

Fig. 48. - The Foxhound.

It is now rapidly becoming the custom to leave the ears of the Foxhound as nature intended, it being more than suspected that the time-honoured custom of "rounding" is of no real advantage. One man says he "rounds" his hounds as it "prevents canker to a great extent"; another says he does it "to prevent their being torn"; a third thinks "the loss of blood entailed by the operation does the young entry so much good"; and the great majority do it "because it is the custom." But we live in an enquiring age, and the result of enquiry is to cast considerable doubt upon the value of any of the reasons given.

A pack of Foxhounds, to look well and to work well together, should be uniform in size; what that size should be depends largely upon the country hunted and the taste of the Master. The majority seem to prefer medium-sized hounds, and always have done so, judging from the ancient literature of the breed; but there have been some wonderfully smart, quick-killing "small" packs about 21in. It is generally supposed that bitches are smarter in their work and "cast" quicker than the dog hounds, and many packs divide the sexes and hunt all dog hounds one day, all bitches the next.

The speed of a Foxhound has been a subject of interest for very many years, and it is quite a mistake to suppose it was little thought of in old days. On the contrary, we meet with repeated accounts of matches between favourite hounds of different packs, and challenges being issued to run for sums of money up to ten thousand guineas. "Blain" reports an interesting match for five hundred guineas between a couple nominated by a Mr. Barry and another couple nominated by Mr. Meynell. The distance was four miles on a hot drag, and the time taken was eight minutes and a few seconds. It is recorded that sixty horsemen followed the race, but only twelve could see the finish. A celebrated hound called Merkin is stated by Mr. Daniel to have in a trial covered the same distance in seven minutes.

One of the most important questions a Master may have to decide is the maintenance of his pack by breeding or by the purchase of drafts. It is a curious but well-known fact that some hunts never can " breed" with the slightest measure of success, and if the Master has a buyer upon whom he can depend, or has himself a natural eye for a hound and the means of obtaining reliable information, the purchase of drafts saves an infinite amount of trouble. A draft may consist either of unentered puppies (these can usually be seen and obtained at the annual puppy show of a leading pack, for often double the number required are then returned from their "walks") or of working hounds discarded for being too fast, too slow, or for some other fault. Of course, in buying such it is of the utmost importance to obtain correct information as to the real reason.

Should the Master decide upon breeding his own hounds, he is adopting a most troublesome but most interesting course, and before attempting it he should make a careful study of the best Foxhound strains, observe results already obtained by others, and ever keep in mind that certain strains may be invaluable for one country but not at all suitable for his. Should he decide upon breeding from ten bitches and has at all a wide choice, let them be as good as he can find for the work they have to do. The dam has usually a great influence over the field qualities of her progeny, and if the bitch has peculiar value for the country in which she hunts, breed from her by all means, even if she in appearance leaves something to be desired ; only in this case be careful to select a sire who in bodily conformation is extra strong in those points where the bitch is weak, and at the same time does not possess field peculiarities which would counter-balance the virtues of the bitch, for it is a lamentable fact that faults are more readily inherited than virtues. To make the point quite clear, for it is important, we will suppose you are hunting a cold plough country, and you have a bitch of rare value on those days when hounds seem almost unable to hunt - one who sticks to a line and picks it out when it has been foiled by sheep or made almost unacknowledgable by cold snow-showers, but this bitch is very slow, has wide open feet, and is wanting in bone. Well, naturally you will select for her a hound remarkable for his legs, good feet, and with some pace; but do not suppose that a "wild," "skirting," "self-hunting," or "false," hound can be used with impunity, trusting to the bitch to correct these imperfections in the progeny. On the contrary, confirm her good points by an alliance with a true line-hunting hound, and so far as possible obliterate her faults by seeing that he has drive and speed in the field and irreproachable legs and feet, and also, what is still more important, see that such characteristics are inherent.

Puppies should always be whelped during the spring months, thus giving them the whole summer in which to grow, play about, and get strong. When weaned they are usually placed out (" walked," as it is termed) at farmhouses or other suitable quarters where they will enjoy plenty of liberty and good feeding. The following summer it is customary to have a puppy show, at which prizes are given to those who have reared the best hounds. When a bitch becomes heavy in young, she should never be hunted or indeed left in kennel with the pack; a capital system, when it can be arranged, is to place the bitch out some time before she whelps. Some hunting farmers are proud of being trusted with a favourite bitch, and have hit upon the excellent plan of cutting for her comfort and accommodation a hole in the side of the straw stack. This is always a favourite place, and the bitch rears her pups there far better than in any kennel.

The sooner a puppy begins to hunt the better - anything he may choose to find; time enough to talk about "riot" and to begin "rating" when the hunting spirit has caught hold of the hound and burns brightly within him. The wilder and more dashing the puppy, the better he is liked by many experienced huntsmen; but a timid, slinking, frightened puppy, taking no notice of rabbit or hare is seldom of much use. It is not unusual to meet people who imagine that the Foxhound is designed by nature to hunt foxes exclusively. Of course, naturally the Foxhound would hunt any quarry leaving a scent; it is only by being "entered," "blooded" to fox, cheered when he hunts it, rated and flogged when he turns aside to other game, that he acquires the qualities of his race.

Before closing this chapter on the Foxhound, mention must be made of the Welsh Wire-coated Hound, because he is sometimes termed the Welsh Foxhound. In truth, he is simply a Welsh breed of hound used sometimes for hunting the fox, sometimes the hare, and often the otter. He is not now very often to be met with, but has at his best some valuable characteristics - a remarkably sensitive nose, great powers of endurance, considerable intelligence, and a wonderful natural aptitude for hunting, causing him to "enter" and to become, it is said, a valued member of the pack before an English Foxhound has seen a fox. On the other hand, he is reported to be seldom free from riot, to be very heady in the field and quarrelsome in kennel. A cross with the English Foxhound has been tried by some Masters. Opinions differ widely as to the result: it seems to be generally agreed that "appearances" have not been improved by the experiment; but it is stoutly claimed that the music of the pack has been greatly increased, and more foxes killed on bad scenting days.