when there was not the least apprehension of any mischief, went up to an old woman who was sitting attending a pot, in which she was preparing a mess. The dog smelled at it and was troublesome; this provoked her; she took up a stick and began to beat him, on which he seized her by the throat, which he would not leave till his head was severed from his body by his master."

THE STAGIOUND.

This now rare hound is said to derive its origin from the bloodhound and the greyhound-a mixture resulting in the most exquisite scent combined with great endurance. Of late years the sport of stag-chasing has in a great measure given place to fox-hunting; and even where the royal and ancient sport is still followed, the dogs employed are generally a large and powerful species of foxhound. These dogs, of which mention will be found in another page, rank among the swift and most enduring dogs in the world. They have been known to maintain, without flagging, a stag-chase of fifty miles' duration, and in old sporting chronicles may be found an account of a hunt of so protracted a nature that the whole pack of dogs excepting two fell off the trail, and that at last the huntsmen came up to their game dead from sheer exhaustion, and the two hounds within a short space dead too.

It is said, however, that the modern substitute, although equal in fleetness and strength to the old English staghound, is not its match for courage. It would seem at first sight that no particular amount of bravery was requisite to face the

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gentle" stag, but it should be remembered that that animal when brought to bay becomes a rather formidable opponent: its neck is curiously lith, its antlers sharp and hard as steel prongs, and its active hoofs by no means to be despised.

There can be no doubt that the foxhound is one of the most highly-prized dogs in Europe. Palatial kennels are erected for its reception, and thousands of pounds spent every year with a view to the maintenance of its present excellence, with inprovements if practicable. It is commonly agreed that the fox-hound originated with the ancient English hound, improved by judicious crossings. That the greyhound enters into its composition is pretty evident as it is one of the speediest of dogs. This was tested some years ago on the Beacon Course at Newmarket. "The length of the course is 4 miles 1 furlong and 132 yards, and this distance was run by the winning dog in eight minutes and a few seconds. The famous race-horse 'Flying Childers,' in running over the same ground, was little more than half a minute ahead of the hound. Now, if we compare the dimensions of the horse and the hound, we shall arrive at a tolerably accurate conception of the extraordinary swiftness to which the latter animal can attain. In that match no less than sixty horses started together with the competitors, bu of the sixty only twelve were with the dogs at the end of the run."

Fox-hounds are kept with the severest discipline. At home

it is customary to call them from the kennel by name, and one at a time when feeding-time arrives, and among a well-trained pack the circumstance of one dog answering to another's name, or one coming uncalled would be regarded as a heinous offence, and one that would certainly earn for the transgressor a tremendous thrashing. The result of this severe training is, that when in the hunting-field the foxhound will instantly obey the most hurried order or gesture of the huntsman.

The foxhound is not a particularly large dog, its average height being under two feet, and of proportionate length. The female is smaller than the male.

THE BOARHOUND.

This brave and valuable dog is the result of a careful blending of other species. To successfully overtake and assail so tremendous and savage a creature as the boar—concerning which one of the most eminent of modern Indian hunters, Captain Shakspear, says that, as dangerous game, it certainly ranks before the tiger and leopard,-to successfully meet this tusked monster three qualities are essential: first, speed; second, quick scent and swift action; and third, indomitable pluck. The first is supplied by the pure greyhound, and by crossing it with the English mastiff two of the three demandsspeed and pluck-are met; for scent and quick movement, what better than the nimble, fiery terrier? With the latter, then, the progeny of the greyhound and the mastiff is crossed, and the result is the boarhound.

The reader may glean some notion of the sort of animal the wild boar is to face from the following summary that terminates one of Captain Shakspear's hunting narrations "I have

stated that the boar is the most courageous animal in the jungle. There he lay, with a broken spear in his withers, the shaft sticking up a foot and a half from the blade-knocking over a horseman and wounding his horse; receiving two bullets, ten to the pound-the first in the neck and throat, the second breaking his jaw, and fired within a few feet of his muzzle; making good his charge, cutting down his enemy like grass, wounding him, knocking over a second man armed with a spear, defying the dogs, and then, when in the act of charging, receiving a shot in the brain, and dying without a groan."

Boar-hunting is happily but a thing of the past in England. In other parts of Europe, however-in Germany, for instancethe dense forests still afford a stronghold to the "long-tusked

bog," and in that country boar-hunting is still a common sport, and the boar-hound generally bred for use. In appearance the dog in question is rather formidable; it is taller at the shoulders than the mastiff, the colour of which it usually assumes. The limbs are very stout and long, and the shape of the head, which is rather large, partakes of the squareness of the mastiff and the ferretty sharpness of the terrier. When the boar is brought to bay, it is the business of the hound so to manoeuvre that the animal's attention shall be fixed on it while the hunter is left at liberty to attack.

This, the largest of the spaniels, is, as it deserves to be, one of the most favourite dogs in England. In its native land, however, whatever its deservings may be (it is just possible that, ruled by cruelty, he is not quite the model animal we find him), he is treated villanously. "He is converted into a beast of burden, and forced to suffer even greater hardships than those which generally fall to the lot of animals which are used for the carriage of goods or the traction of vehicles. The life of a hewer of wood is proverbially one of privation, but the existence of the native Newfoundland dog is still less to be envied, being that of a servant of the wood-hewer. In the winter, the chief employment of the inhabitants is to cut fuel, and the occupation of the dog is to draw it in carts. The pooT animals are not only urged beyond their strength but are meagerly fed on putrid salt fish, the produce of some preceding summers. Many of these noble dogs sink under the joint

effects of fatigue and starvation, and many of the survivors commit sad depredations on the neighbouring flocks as soon as the summer commences and they are freed from their daily toils."

There are two kinds of Newfoundland dog. One is considerably larger than the other, measuring about two feet nine inches in height, while the smaller (sometimes called the Labrador or St. John's dog) rarely measures higher than two feet. The Newfoundland is evidently a water dog. Not only does he freely enter the unstable element at the least bidding, but if he should happen to live near the sea or a river, and can find a playfellow of his own kind, their swimming matches and aquatic gambols are a good thing to witness. No doubt this dog owes its swimming powers in a great measure to its broad feet and strong legs.

Its sagacity in assisting a drowning person is wonderful. It is not content with seizing any part of the person or dress and endeavouring to paddle shoreward; it will shift and shift its hold till it secures a grip on anything that may encircle the neck, and there hold on as though aware that as long as a man's head was out of the water no harm could come to him. On shore his intelligence is just as surprising. Take the following as a sample, on the undoubted authority of the Rev. J. G. Wood:

"One of these animals belonging to a workman was attacked by a small and pugnacious bull-dog, which sprang upon the unoffending canine giant, and after the manner of bull-dogs 'pinned' him by the nose, and there hung in spite of all endeavours to shake it off. However, the big dog happened to be a clever one, and, spying a pailful of boiling tar, he hastened towards it, and deliberately lowered his foe into the hot and viscous material. The bull-dog had never calculated on such a reception, and made its escape as fast as it could run."