by Sir W. St. Quintin, by Claret, a blue dog, a son of Lord Orford's Jupiter. In all countries, Snowball, who was a jet black, distinguished himself without exception: and though used to an open one, he had equal merit in the smallest enclosures with the thickest fences. In running up the hills, he appeared scarcely ever distressed; and the inhabitants of Flixton, who are accustomed to courses of the greatest severity and length, still speak of him with admiration.' Snowdrop, a son of Snowball, won the Malton cup four successive years; and Fly, a grand-daughter of Snowball, a yellow and white bitch, the property of Major Topham, carried it away also in the Malton Spring meeting of 18-10, though she had suffered previously by very severe exercise. Scarcely a greyhound, indeed, of any other blood now appears at the Malton meeting, and it has been so celebrated as to be introduced into almost every county in the kingdom.2 In the South, Millar, belonging to Sir H. B. Dudley, has been likewise very. famous. The sire of Millar was an Essex dog, Tulip, by a blue Newmarket dog, and he was the produce of a bitch by a Lancashire dog bred by the late Mr. Bamber Gascoyne. Millar was a large deep-chested dog, of a fawn colour, and whilst young did not discover any pretensions to his future reputation. He was afterwards tried in the Essex marshes, and in a single day In a late splendid publication, Snowball is said to have been inferior to yellow Czarina, and that when he ran with his brother Major, he appeared nearly stationary. Yet I have reason to believe, that Snowball never ran with Czarina, and only one single course with Major, when the hare was killed so immediately, that no superiority was discernible. 2 There was a circumstance respecting Snowball peculiar to him in the history of coursing. He served greyhounds for years before his death at three guineas each. And amongst them, two out of Wales, two out of Scotland, one from the Marquis of Townsend out of Norfolk, and the rest out of counties at some distance. Fifty guineas were given for young Snowball, who was sold afterwards for one hundred; and Mr. Mellish beat all Newmarket with another son of Snowball. he won no less than five matches against the first dogs in the field.1 His superiority continued, and he won upwards of seventy times. His stock also have proved excellent runners, and Miss, one of his daughters, received the Bradwell cup from twelve opponents who had been run down to a brace. A black bitch that I brought out of Dorsetshire, with the powerful recommendations of shape and speed, added to great spirit and resolution, has produced me also by Lancashire dogs, broods that have uniformly distinguished themselves. Whatever, therefore, may be thought by a few individuals on the subject, it is certain that blood has a very striking superiority. Many half-bred horses have been known to exhibit great speed; but a thorough-bred horse can only maintain and continue his velocity for miles in succession. The same observation may be made with respect to the greyhound, and it forms the essential difference, which is not often properly attended to, between the greyhound in an open and in an enclosed country. The coarse rough-haired greyhound may discover some prowess in the latter; but in the former, and in long and severe courses, blood, which includes shape, sets all competition at defiance. The most favorable season for the production of the young brood, in the opinion of the ancients, was that of the warm months ;? and they had reason for their opinion. Independent of the want or I may, perhaps, in the opinion of some sportsmen, entertain an erroneous idea, but I cannot subscribe to that of the small greyhound being equal to one of a larger size. The medium is, in fact, the height to be desired, and I consider the superiority to be decided on mathematical principles:—A given length must cover a given space of ground, and the short small greyhound must necessarily make more strokes than a larger one to cover the same space of ground, and consequently must be sooner fatigued. The great overgrown dog I equally exclude. The bulk there counteracts itself, and the extreme length cannot recover itself to repeat the stroke, sa that the ground covered by the length is then lost by a failure in the repetition of the stroke. On these principles I have seen small greyhounds, that I received out of Yorkshire, regularly beaten by my own. 2 Κρατίστη δὲ ὥρα ἐς σκυλάκειαν ἡ τοῦ ἦρος, εὐκράτως γὰρ αὐτὴ μάλιστα ἔχει κρύους καὶ θάλπους· ὡς τὸ μὲν κρύος τοῖς σκυλακίοις οὐκ ἀγαθὸν ἐς ἀνατροφὴν, ἄλλως τε καὶ ἀπορία γάλακτος· τὸ δὲ καῦμα ταῖς μητράσιν χαλεπὸν ἐν τῇ ἀνατροφῇ· τὸ φθινόπωρον δὲ ταύτῃ χεῖρον τοῦ ἦρος, ὅτι χειμὼν ἐπιλαμβάνει σκυλάκια πρὶν παγήναι Arrianus de Venat. c. 29. scarcity of nutriment, the winter and cold weather contract the growth of the puppies and often make them thick-jointed and rickety. If dogs are bred in the summer months they will also be of the fittest age to be brought into the field the following year. They will then have acquired sufficient strength and muscle without losing that additional spirit and activity, which an early entrance to their game gives them. In some places, when the mother has too numerous a brood of puppies to support, it has been usual to put some of them under a foster nurse; but the practice, when the occasion even offers, is 1 Επειδὰν δὲ γέννηται τὰ σκυλάκια ὑπὸ τῇ τεκούσῃ ἐᾷν, καὶ μὴ ἀποβάλλειν ὑφ' ἑτέρῳ κύνᾳ· αἱ γὰρ θηραπεῖαι αἱ ἀλλότριαι οὐκ εἰσιν αὔξιμο" τῶν δὲ μητέρων καὶ τὸ γάλα ἀγαθὸν, καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ αἱ περιβολαὶ φίλαιο Xenophon de Venat. 987. Α δὲ βούλῃ ἔχειν, ὑπὸ τῆς μητρὸς αὐτῶν ἀνατρεφίσθωσαν καὶ μὴ ὑφ' ἑτέρου, τὸ γὰρ τῆς μητρὸς γάλα πάνω ὀφίλιμόν ἐστι· Cynosophium. Nec unquam eos quorum generosam volumus indolem conservare, patiemur alienæ nutricis uberibus educari, quoniam semper lac et spiritus maternus longe magis ingenii atque incrementa corporis augent. Columella. Lib, vii. c. 12. Arrian carries the opinion still further by the Tò yàp Tŵv àyεvvur yáha oử ξύμφυλον ταῖς γενναίεις. And my worthy friend Mr. Roscoe, -—animam qualem neque candidiorem Terra tulit, neque cu me sit devinctior alter, De Venat. c. 30. has observed in the notes to his elegant translation of the "Balia" of Luigi Tansillo, that the intemperance of Tiberius is upon the same principle ascribed to his nurse by an Italian author: "Fu conosciuto quanto il latte puo, Faggiucli. And the same author attributes a want of affection amongst brothers to a like cause. Da che credete voi, nasca l'amara, not one to be recommended. However the idea may be ridiculed by some persons, there is most certainly a transfusion of some properties from the nurture, and a portion of the foster parent's characteristic qualities has been often discernible where it could not be otherwise accounted for, In the selection of the young brood, paid to the weight of the puppies ;' lightest of the litter are likely to be great regard was formerly but it is now supposed the the most active and speedy. Bevver col latte lor diversi e vari; Ond altri pigri sono, altri son fieri. And he conceives also that Romulus and Remus derived their ferocity from the milk that supported them. E per provasi e visto infin' che quegli, Ch' ebbe latte di Bestia, fu efficace Lupa per Balia; ed ambedue redaro, Faggiuoli. Should there be, however, a wish to preserve more puppies than the mother is likely to support, they should, if possible, be transferred to a foster parent of the same species, if we take the recommendation of an ancient poet for authority: καὶ ὠκέεις ἔξοχα θεσης, Εἰδομένους αὐτῇσι γαλακτοφόροισι τιθήναις Oppian. Venat, 1, 442. And the author of the Cynosophium has directed the mode of introducing them to the foster parent. ὑπόθες αὐτὰ ἑπέρᾳ κύνῃ ἐχούσῃ ἄλλα ἴδια, ἱνὰ αὐτὰ θρέψῃ. ὑπόβαλλε δὲ αὐτῇ ταῦτα τρόπῳ τοιῷδε· ἀπόθλιψον ἐξ αὐτῆς ὀλίγον γάλα, καὶ βάλε ἐν τῇ χειρὶ, καὶ ἀναπτύξας ἀνάμιξον μετὰ τοὺ γάλακτος, καὶ περιχρίσας τὸν νῶτον σκυλακίων, ἀπόθες αὐτὰ τῇ τροφῷ, καὶ γνώσῃ ὅτι ἡδέω; αὐτὰ δέχεται• Cynosophium. I have tried the experiment of sprinkling them with the foster parent's milk, and it has succeeded. Pondere nam catulis poteris perpendere vires The same idea prevails in an ancient Greek author: *Εστι καὶ ἄλλη δοκιμασία τοῦ βελτίονος σκύλακος ἐν ζύγῳ σταθμίσας τὰ κυνάρια ἐπὶ πλέξας τὸ βαρύτερον. Cynosophium. But some sportsmen think differently, undismayed by Xenophon's Axiom, πρῶτον μὲν οὖν χρὴ εἶναι μεγάλας (Xenophon de Venat. 977.) which Julius Pollux has lowered, as Kempher observes, with the μnd outgoi, unde ár, and he might have added, with great judgment and propriety.-- Yet rawboned plain whelps, on being well kept, have grown very frequently into fine and handsome dogs, and no accurate or certain rule can be laid down till they are nearly a year old. About the age of twelve months it has been the custom to show them game; to the female puppies, a month or two earlier. The practice has undoubtedly its advantages. It renders them more docile, as well as more brisk, and livelier. This practice, however, should be governed by the size, shape, and growth, of both the male and female puppies, and neither of them should be suffered at that age to go out regularly, or where the probability of very stout hares may be expected. They may receive otherwise strains before they are completely formed, which is seldom till they are nearly two years old. It seems extraordinary that no alterations have been made in the rules and laws of coursing since the reign of Queen Elizabeth; when the regulations, which are usually still in force, received the fiat of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk; and they are the following ones. THE Laws of the Leash or Coursing, As they were commanded, allowed, and subscribed by Thomas, late Duke of Norfolk, in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. 1st. Therefore it was ordered, That he which was chosen Fewterer, or Letter-loose of the Greyhounds, should receive the Greyhounds Match to run together into his Leash, as soon as he came into the field, and to follow next to the Hare-finder till he came unto the Form; and no Horseman nor Footman, on pain of Jam cum denos Phoebe reparaverit ortus, Incipe non longo Catulos producere cursu. Nemesian. Cyneget. 186. ̓Αγειν δὲ τὰς σκύλακας ἐπὶ τὸν κυνηγέσιον τὰς μὲν θηλείας ὄκτω μῆνας, τοὺς δὲ ἄῤῥινας રે δέκα μήνας· Xenophon de Venat. 987. Κυνὸς ἡλικία ἐς τὸ θεῖν θηλιῖαν μὲν μετὰ μῆνα ἐνδέκατον ἐξάγειν· πρόσθεν δὲ ἔτι ἀπὸ δεκάτου μηνὸς εἰ εὐπάγης τύχοι καὶ μὴ ὑγριβέλης· "Αῤῥινα δὲ μὴ πρόσθεν, ἢ διέτη γενόμενον πολὺ γάρ τοῦ ὕστερον τοῖς ἄῤῥεσι πήγνυται τὰ μέλη. Arrianus de Venat. e. 25 et 26. |