THE Bloodhound was much used in olden times in hunting and in the pursuit of fugitives ; two services for which his remarkable acuteness of smell, his ability to keep to the particular scent on which he is first laid, and the intelligence and pertinacity with which he follows up the trail, admirably fit him. The use and employment of these dogs date back into remote antiquity. We have it on the authority of Strabo that they were used against the Gauls, and we have certain knowledge that they were employed not only in the frequent feuds of the Scottish clans, and in the continuous border forays of those days, but also during the ever-recurring hostilities between England and Scotland.
Indeed, the very name of the dog calls up visions of feudal castles, with their trains of knights and warriors and all the stirring panorama of these brave days of old, when the only tenure of life, property, or goods was by the strong hand.
This feudal dog is frequently pictured by the poet in his ballads and romances, and in " The Lady of the Lake " we find the breed again mentioned as
"-dogs of black St. Hubert's breed,
Unmatched for courage, breath, and speed." ∎
[These famous black Bloodhounds, called St. Huberts, are supposed to have been brought by pilgrims from the Holy Land. Another larger breed, also known by the same name, were pure white, and another kind were greyish-red. The dogs of the present day are probably a blend of all these varieties.
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BLOODHOUND CH. CHATLEY
BEAUFORT.
BY CH. CHA'CLEY
BLAZER-CHATLEY FRIVOL. BRED AND OWNED BY MRS. G. A.
OLIPHANT, SHREWTON, WILTS
