The majestic head of this dog has frequently attracted the notice of the poetical and pictorial artist, and, without doubt, he is deserving of it; indeed, from this point of view, he probably excels the whole animal creation as far as the greyhound surpasses them in elegance of outline and grace of movement. It is somewhat remarkable that these two attributes, so different in themselves, should be possessed to this full extent by two members of the canine race. The prefix " blood" has been given to this hound in consequence of his being used to track deer and sheep stealers by the scent of the blood dropped on the line; but his fine nose was also employed to follow the body scent, whether of man or animals; and in this way he was employed in former days to pursue runaway slaves, but being rather unmanageable when he reached them, the Cuban mastiff, or a cross between this mastiff and the bloodhound, was generally preferred on account of his greater amenity to the discipline and control of "his master. At present the bloodhound is little used in this country, two packs of staghounds comprising the whole extent to which his employment in hunting reaches; Lord Wolverton's is said to be pure, but Mr. Nevill's differs greatly in appearance from the recognised type of the breed.

The bloodhound in the hands of our chief exhibitors is now kept for ornament only, or for the purpose of exhibition and prize taking; and it must be estimated accordingly from the artistic point of view alone.

Until within the last twenty years, or thereabouts, the bloodhound has been almost entirely confined to the kennels of the English nobility; but at about that distance of time Mr. Jennings, of Pickering, in Yorkshire, obtained a draft or two from Lord Faversham and Baron Rothschild, and in a few years, by his skill and care, produced his Druid and Welcome, a magnificent couple of hounds, which he afterwards sold, at what was then considered a high price, to Prince Napoleon for breeding purposes. In the course of time, and probably from the fame acquired by these dogs at the various shows, his example was followed by his north-country neighbours, Major Cowen and Mr. J. W. Pease, who monopolised the prizes of the show bench with successive Druids, descended from Mr. Jennings's dog of that name, and aided by Draco, Dingle, Dauntless, etc, all of the same strain. Up to 1869 the only other largely successful dogs in this class were the two Rufuses (Mr. Boom's and Mr. Brough's), whose pedigrees are chiefly composed of Faversham and Rothschild blood, either through Jennings's.Druid or other channels.

In 1869, however, another candidate for fame appeared in Mr. Holford's Regent, a magnificent dog, both in shape and colour, but still of the same strains, and until the appearance of Mr. Reynold Ray's Roswell in 1870 no fresh blood was introduced among the first-prize winners at our chief shows. His pedigree is not well ascertained, but no doubt from his stock it is a good one. This dog, who died in 1877, maintained his position for the same period almost without dispute, and even in his old age it took a good dog to beat him. The head of the bitch is so very inferior in majesty to that of the dog, that, as this is the peculiar feature in the breed, it is by the male alone that it is adequately represented.

As above remarked, the bloodhound must now be regarded chiefly as a companionable dog, though he is always included at our shows in the division comprising the " Dogs Used in Field Sports." He is in considerable demand amongst country gentlemen; but, having been much in-bred for many years, there is a great difficulty in rearing puppies in this country, though in France and Germany, probably from the change of climate and soil, bloodhounds have been successfully bred and reared from the stock imported from England. From the keen nose possessed by this hound, he has no doubt been employed as a cross for the black and tan setter, and some mastiff breeders have resorted to him to give majesty to the heads of their favourites; but in both cases I think there has been a loss in point of temperament; for there can be no doubt that the bloodhound is not very amenable to the discipline required in these two breeds. Occasionally an exception is met with, in which a pure bloodhound is controllable under all circumstances; but, as a rule, I have no doubt that he is a very unmanageable dog, and can only be employed usefully by letting him have his own way, to work out his own instinctive promptings and appetite.

The Hon. Grantley Berkeley's celebrated dog Druid was beyond even his control when excited, and, with the long experience of dogs and well-known pluck of that gentleman, it must be something out of the common that would make him give way to any animal like the bulldog, the bloodhound is amiable enough when not excited; but once get his " hackles up," and he is not easily turned from his object. It is sometimes asserted that this character only belongs to badly-bred animals; but whenever I have had the opportunity of visiting a kennel of highly-bred bloodhounds, I have pat the matter to the test by asking the master to show a whip to his dog, and, with the exception of Mr. Bay's dogs, which seem remarkably amiable, the result has always satisfied me that he dared not use it - that is to say, if the dog was at liberty. Personally, I have had no experience of the breed except in the case of the bitch, two of which (both very highly bred) I have possessed at different timet, and certainly their tempers were not to be depended on, though they would not turn on me, as I have more than once seen a dog hound do on his master.

My experience and the evidence afforded by that of others lead me, therefore, to conclude that the temper of the bloodhound is not of such a nature as to make him a pleasant and safe companion; but I am bound to state that several breeders who have considerable practical acquaintance with this dog have recently given an entirely opposite opinion in the columns of the Field, and the question must therefore be considered undecided. In his style of hunting he usually carries his bead very low, and is slow in his quest, dwelling on the scent when at all doubtful until he has assured himself of its truth. In pace and stamina he cannot compare with the foxhound, who could beat him by one-half at the very least in both respects. His voice is full, deep in tone, and melodious; and this in itself is regarded by many as a claim entitling him to very high consideration. The points are numerically as follows: