The basset hound has been sufficiently long in this country to claim notice in a work devoted to British dogs. He is a grand little fellow, with the noblest of heads and the best of noses, while his note is as musical as a rich-toned bell. He is not fast, his formation preventing speed, but if you take more pleasure in hound work than in the number of kills recorded at the end of a season, you will have no cause to regret the possession of a pack of bassets. I have heard of a couple in Natal bustling the smaller buck out of the dense bush, doing the work more satisfactorily than any other breed of hound, and lasting through the longest day. Quite a number of packs are now hunted regularly in Great Britain.

Twenty packs of otterhounds hunt in England, Scotland, and Ireland during the summer months, and usually attract big fields. Although a made breed, the otterhound has been long enough in existence to come true to type, and a very handsome hound he is. Few packs, however, are composed of pure-bred hounds, most of them being a scratch lot of foxhounds and otterhounds. Mr. Holland Buckley in Wales resorted to a bloodhound cross, not, however, with the most satisfactory results, I believe. Last on my list of hounds hunting by scent comes the bloodhound, a noble-looking, dignified creature familiar to all frequenters of dog shows. His predisposition to a fatal form of distemper militates against his universal popularity, but if people only recognised what splendid sport he is capable of giving I think he would be more generally kept. If the present attempt to strengthen the constitution of the breed by means of various out-crosses is successful, as there is reason to hope that it may be, we may look for a wider recognition of the value of this beautiful hound. To many the name has a sinister significance. Does he not hunt man, and have not the pages of history and popular fiction dwelt upon his relentless pursuit of his human quarry with dire results to the hunted man when caught? It is not easy to convince the public that a bloodhound is one of the mildest - mannered gentlemen that ever put nose to line, and that the man he hunts is immune from harm. Yet it is so. One rarely finds a bad-tempered bloodhound, and I can quite credit the story of a man having tied his pursuer to a tree and gone on his way rejoicing. Many dogs will hunt any one they know, but the peculiarity of the well-trained bloodhound is that he will follow the line of a stranger and stick to it, no matter how many times it may have been crossed by others. This freedom from change, as we term it, is absolutely essential if bloodhounds are ever again to be used in tracking down criminals. There is no reason in the world why they should not be called in to the aid of the police, as they are in America. On the other side of the Atlantic it is common enough to hear of them running down evildoers many hours after a crime has been committed, and they could do so here if as much trouble were taken over their training. Many of the hounds in America that achieve such wonderful results were bred in England, or come of immediate British ancestors. For tracking poachers, escaped convicts, or perpetrators of crimes in lonely country places they would be of undoubted use, but I do not pretend to suggest that they could accomplish the impossible and carry a line through crowded streets. As I write, the public mind is agitated by the cruel murder of an old lady at Camberley and the attempted murder of others. I am convinced that if the police had had a bloodhound handy the criminal would have been in charge before many hours had elapsed.

Altogether apart from the question of utility the bloodhound may be commended to the consideration of sportsmen who are not possessed of long purses. A single hound will hunt a man as well as a couple or more, and many a pretty problem in scent, under varying conditions, can be worked out by their aid. You have but to send out a runner in any direction you please and put the hound on his track. The man can avoid sheep, and you need do no damage to young corn. If you are not keen on riding or do not keep a horse, you may still get plenty of enjoyment by mapping out a circular course, which you can intersect. With the aid of field-glasses it is often possible to watch a hunt over some miles, especially if you should happen to have a convenient hill about.

It is well to enter the puppy early, say when he is about seven months old. You will be astonished to see how quickly he gets his nose down. In the early lessons let the youngster see some one he knows run a short distance and hide. Then encourage him to go seek, and when he has come up to his man let him be rewarded by a tit-bit. This will make him keen. The distance may shortly be increased, and as soon as the puppy shows a disposition to hunt, send the runner off without being viewed. As greater proficiency is reached allow a longer interval to elapse between the laying-on of the hound and the starting of the runner. The colder a line you can get the hound to hunt the better. At least you should endeavour to make him reach such a degree of proficiency that the hunted man may have three hours' start on a fair scenting day. It is desirable to vary your runners, and to have the line crossed by others at certain places, which may be indicated by sticks in order that you may check the hound if he shows any disposition to change.

I must not forget to mention that the clean boot, i. e. a boot that has not been dressed in any way, should only be hunted. You will frequently notice that the hound will work some way down wind, parallel with the original line taken by the quarry. If you ride, give the hound plenty of room, as he has a rooted objection to being ridden over. One great thing to be said in favour of this sport is that no exception can be taken to it on humanitarian grounds.

One of the most satisfactory pieces of work that I can recall was performed by Mr. Edwin Brough's bitch Kickshaw at some trials near Winslow promoted by the Association of Bloodhound Breeders, with Lord Lonsdale as judge. At one point was a lane which had been traversed by a herd of cattle as well as a number of farm hands. The bitch carried the line slowly along this difficult piece of country until she came to a field where the scent of the runner was no longer foiled. Evidently she was not quite satisfied by this time that she was on the correct course, so she returned to the beginning of the lane, verified her line, and once more took it up at the end of the lane, without taking any notice of the intervening portion. This seems as near reasoning as one is likely to get in a dumb animal, and it was a performance to delight the heart of the hound-lover. To see this bitch cast if she got off the line was a treat. After the hounds that hunt by scent we come to the greyhound, which, as everybody knows, hunts by sight. Coursing has ever been a popular sport in this country, from the time of the Anglo-Saxons onwards. A glance at old prints of greyhounds suggests that few breeds have changed less in formation than this. Originally, no doubt, he was much coarser in build, and we have good reason for believing that he had deteriorated in courage towards the end of the eighteenth century, as the Earl of Orford of his day resorted to a bulldog cross to infuse a desirable quality that he considered lacking. To some this may have seemed a rash adventure, having in mind the fundamental differences in the construction of the two dogs, but any one who has had experience in such hybridisation will not be surprised to learn that the sixth or seventh generation showed no traces of the alien blood. I had the opportunity of watching the cross out made between a bloodhound and a basset by the late Sir Everett Millais, and in less than six generations the bloodhound had disappeared.