nging flews, and, being continued into the pendent folds
of loose skin about the neck, constitute the dewlap, which is very
pronounced. These characters are found, though in a less degree, in
the bitch. NECK, SHOULDERS, AND CHEST--The neck is long, the shoulders
muscular and well sloped backwards; the ribs are well sprung, and
the chest well let down between the forelegs, forming a deep keel.
LEGS AND FEET--The fore-legs are straight and large in bone, with
elbows squarely set; the feet strong and well knuckled up; the thighs
and second thighs (gaskins) are very muscular; the hocks well bent
and let down and squarely set. BACK AND LOINS--The back and loins
are strong, the latter deep and slightly arched. STERN--The stern
is long and tapering and set on rather high, with a moderate amount
of hair underneath. GAIT--The gait is elastic, swinging, and free--the
stern being carried high, but not too much curled over the back.
COLOUR--The colours are black-and-tan, red-and-tan, and tawny--the
darker colours being sometimes interspersed with lighter or
badger-coloured hair and sometimes flecked with white. A small amount
of white is permissible on chest, feet, and tip of stern.

CHAPTER XIV

THE OTTERHOUND

The Otterhound is a descendant of the old Southern Hound, and there
is reason to believe that all hounds hunting their quarry by nose
had a similar source. Why the breed was first called the Southern
Hound, or when his use became practical in Great Britain, must be
subjects of conjecture; but that there was a hound good enough to
hold a line for many hours is accredited in history that goes very
far back into past centuries. The hound required three centuries ago
even was all the better esteemed for being slow and unswerving on
a line of scent, and in many parts of the Kingdom, up to within half
that period, the so-called Southern Hound had been especially
employed. In Devonshire and Wales the last sign of him in his purity
was perhaps when Captain Hopwood hunted a small pack of hounds very
similar in character on the fitch or pole-cat; the _modus operandi_
being to find the foraging grounds of the animal, and then on a line
that might be two days old hunt him to his lair, often enough ten
or twelve miles off.

When this sort of hunting disappeared, and improved ideas of
fox-hunting came into vogue, there was nothing left for the Southern
Hound to do but to hunt the otter. He may have done this before at
vario