128 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE.

seen in that part of the country, were placed over it.”
The Fox. “In giving a description of the various breecs of
Hound. dogs,” says Mr. Jesse, “everyone must be aware,
that by crossing and recrossing them many of those we now
see have but little claim to originality. The fox-hound, the old
Irish wolf-dog, and the Colley or shepherd’s dog, may per-
haps be considered as possessing the greatest purity of blood.”
Mr. Jesse then refers to a picture of a pack of hounds in
Wilkinson’s “ Manners and Customs of the Egyptians, ” a picture
which was copied from a painting found in one of the tombs
of the Pharaohs, in which “every individual hound is cha-
racteristic of the present breed.” If this be so, as Mr. Jesse
says, “this breed must be considered of a much more ancient
date than is generally supposed.” The Fox-hound is des-
cribed by Colonel Smith as “somewhat lower at the shoulders
and more slenderly built” than the stag-hound. His colour
is “white, but commonly marked with larger clouds of black
and tan, one on each side the head, covering the ears, the
same on each flank and one at the root of the tail.” The
Fox-hound has great strength and endurance, and will run
ten hours in pursuit of the fox.
The Fox-hound’s Many extraordinary stories are told of the
Tenacity. Fox-hound’s ardour for sport. According to
Mr. Jesse, a bitch was on one occasion taken in labour while
in the hunting field, and after giving birth to a pup took it
in ‘its mouth and pursued the chase. Another bitch, whose
eye had been struck from the socket accidentally by the lash
of the whipper-in who did not believe her challenge, pursued
the fox alone for a great distance with her eye pendant, until
the rest of the pack came up and the fox was killed. Per-
haps one of the most remarkable instances of tenacity of
purpose in an animal is that quoted by Mr. Jesse from the
supplement to Mr. Daniel’s “Rural Sports.” “The circum-
stance took place in the year 1808, in the counties of
Inverness and Perth, and perhaps surpasses any length of