Staghound

“ As I plunged into the reeds the foremost had only just emerged from the gap. I broke my way through this undergrowth for some minutes. The air behind me and about me was soon full of threatening cries. I heard the tumult of my pursuers in the gap up the slope, then the crashing of the reeds, and every now and then the crackling of a branch. Some of the creatures roared like excited beasts of prey. The staghound yelped to the left. I heard Moreau and Montgomery shouting in the same direction. I turned sharply to the right. ”

“ In all his life the dog had never feared anything except the terrible torment that beset him now.
He was of no recognizable breed, though all of his ancestors had been large dogs. There was a hint of staghound in his massive head and in his carriage, and somewhere along the way he had acquired a trace of Great Dane. His fur was silky, like a collie's, and there was a suggestion of bloodhound in his somewhat flabby jowls. Without purpose or plan, the blood of all these breeds had mingled to produce this big mongrel. ”

“ In other parts of England staghound packs are devoted to the capture of the carted deer, a business which is more or less of a parody on the genuine sport, but is popular for the reason that whereas with foxhounds men may have a blank day, they are practically sure of a gallop when a deer is taken out in a cart to be enlarged before the hounds are laid on. ”

“ When any one enters the room, they make a most tyrannical barking, that is absolutely deafening. They are insolent to all the other dogs of the establishment. There is a noble staghound, a great favourite of the squire's, who is a privileged visitor to the parlour ”

“ A player; an old cock grouse.
Staghound (Canis Strenuus) , s. A hound kept for hunting stags.
The stag-hound is now the largest and most powerful of all the dogs which go under the general term of hound. He is held higher in estimation than any other dog of chase, and has a most commanding and dignified aspect, blended with every mark of intellectual mildness.
It has been asserted by the most celebrated naturalists, that the hound, harrier, turnspit, water-dog, and spaniel, are originally of the same race ”

“ Indeed, it is only for a few weeks in every year that the stag is his perfect self, and those weeks, with a small margin before and after, constitute what is called the stag-hunting season, a season of relief to the farmer whose turnip crops have been ruined by the herd's depredations, a season of anxiety to the master of the Devon and Somerset staghounds, a season of delight to him who loves the chase. ”

“ And stag hunting would be popular, too, out here, because there are no game laws that interfere with stag hunting in this State. There is no closed season. People could hunt stags all the year round, and you'd have that dog busy every day of the year.”
“Yes!” sneered Brownlee, “only there are no stags. And he hasn't any staghound blood in him. Pity there are no Dachs in this State, too, isn't it? Then Murchison could hire his dog at night, too. They hunt Dachs at night, don't they, Massett? Only there is no Dachshund blood in him, either. ”

“ The engravings fig. 223 and 224, taken from a sample of this pottery given in one of Mr. Artis’s plates, represents the British staghound of the Roman period chasing a stag. We 159 have a different dog in other examples, as in fig. 225, which is taken from a very remarkable vessel of this ware, now known as the Colchester vase, where it appears driving before it both stags and hares. The hunting of the boar is also introduced in some examples of this pottery. ”

“ In the former case, we should have two races of dogs among the descendants of those figured on the Egyptian tombs; but as one of these races would still preserve the original staghound type, Cuvier would refer to it as a proof that species had not varied. We, on the other hand, should point to the greyhound as proof that animal forms are variable, and that a new form had arisen from modification of the old. ”

“ If you incline to the last, and there is much to be said in its favour, you will look out for some point, such as the crossing of a road by the stag, and trotting quietly down to it, you will wait for the hounds to come up. By the time they reach you, they will have got over the first flurry with which staghounds always make for the line, and will come chiming down as prettily as a pack of harriers. ”

“ They are a breed of the gaze-hound species, though in many respects they are peculiar to themselves. The stock was originally obtained from a cross of the Scotch staghound and the English greyhound, and has made a race which combine in their character the strength and courage of the former with the fleetness of the latter, of whom, in colour and form, they have the greatest resemblance. At the same time they are possessed of a muscular developement which is essential to enable them to endure the severe conflicts to which they are frequently subjected. ”

“ Stag-hunting then, we have seen, has its advantages, and I am not sure that if your lot is cast in a provincial country where the interest of watching hounds track their fox over flinty hills, from the depths of one thick covert to the recesses of another, is seldom varied by a gallop, you will not do well to take your place, at least occasionally, with the followers of the local staghounds. ”

“ To enjoy hind-hunting, one ought to see enough to have a general idea of the working of the pack during the whole hunt. Some idea of the way hounds work may be useful, and if, as not unusually happens, the rider finds himself alone with three or four couple of hounds, he can be of use by stopping them; or, if that is not always possible, at all events by keeping the leading hounds in sight, so that when the pack check he may be able to give useful information.
After their second season staghounds generally run mute, or nearly so. ”

“ Until late years the deer were hunted by staghounds, and the present method of deer-stalking was rarely practised. Now-a-days dogs are not much used except for the purpose of tracking wounded deer; and cross-bred dogs, including strains of the collie, pointer, lurcher, and other breeds, are found to be better adapted to this use than the handsome staghounds so grandly depicted by Sir Edwin Landseer, scent being more important than speed. Even for tracking, dogs are [375] little used in the smaller forests, lest their baying might drive deer away to other ground. ”

“ Speaking of this reminds me of an incident which has nothing to do with E.C.H. beyond the fact that the actors in it were the two whips. My brother and Billy Harford by some means got out of 11 o’clock school in time to meet the Queen’s staghounds on their opening meet at Salt Hill. The stag ‘took soil’ in that pool close to the line, near the present Burnham Beeches station. ”

“ So far from this, that it is only by the aid of such a fact in organic nature that we can imagine new species to have arisen: in other words, those who believe in the variability of Species, and the introduction of new forms by means of modification from the old, always invoke the law of hereditary transmission as the means of establishing accidental variations. Thus, let us suppose the Egyptian king to have had one hundred dogs, all of them staghounds, and no other form of dog to have existed at that time in that country; the dog species would be represented by the staghound. ”

“ The sport has never been so vigorously pursued as it was at the beginning of the 20th century, 19 packs of staghounds being kept in England and 4 in Ireland, over 170 packs of foxhounds in England, 10 in Scotland and 23 in Ireland, with packs of harriers and beagles too numerous to be counted. The chase of the wild stag is carried on in the west country by the Devon and Somerset hounds, which hunt three or four days a week from kennels at Dunster ”

“ Staghounds are close derivatives of the bloodhound, and formerly occurred in England in two strains, known respectively as the northern and southern hounds. Both breeds were large and heavy, with pendulous ears and thick throats with dewlaps. These strains seem to be now extinct, having been replaced by foxhounds, a large variety of which is employed in stag-hunting.
The modern English foxhound has been bred from the old northern and southern hounds, and is more lightly built, having been bred for speed and endurance. The favourite and most common colour is black-white-and-tan. ”

“ I quite agree with what you say about breeding, but for a woman the ideal horse for staghounds must not only be temperate, but in every way good-mannered. I suppose it is the rush at starting, which of course suggests racing, that excites them, but I know by experience that a horse which is a comfortable mount for a woman with Foxhounds or Harriers, may prove quite unmanageable if taken with Staghounds. A hot horse, too, even if you can ride it, takes so much [Pg 142] out of itself, that it cannot stand the long days, and is sure to knock up. ”

“ I think the best plan is to come into the field with the hounds, if possible, pick your own place at the first fence—of course riding wide of the hounds—and do your level best to get a good start. If staghounds really run, a good start is every bit as important with them as in the Shires, and that is one reason I think they are such good training for judgment, decision and nerve. ”

“ The stag-hound is a beautiful animal. He is distinguished from the fox-hound by the apparent broadness and shortness of his head, his longer cheek, his straighter hock, his wider thigh and deeper chest, and better feathered and more beautifully arched tail. His appearance indicates strength and stoutness, in which indeed he is unequalled, and he has sufficient speed to render it difficult for the best horses long to keep pace with him; while, as is necessary, when the distance between the footmarks of the deer is considered, his scent is most exquisite. ”

“ One thing that made me so fond of him was that on one occasion, when he was put in the kennel after an absence, he was almost torn to pieces by the other dogs. He was a brave hound, but he was at fearful odds against so many. Great slices of flesh were torn from his sides, and gaping wounds made by the fang-like teeth showed through his shaggy coat. It was many months before they healed.
Though the stag-hound is gentle with human beings he is a terrible fighter. They stand on their hind-legs and, facing each other, claw and tear like demons. ”

“ The stag-beetle is in colour a dark chestnut shading into black; the males are two inches long, longer and with larger mandibles than the females—in direct contrast to birds of prey, where the female is generally the finer animal. On the ground their movements are sluggish; but when they open their elytra, or wing-cases, and spread out the wings of fine tissue so neatly folded under them, to the span of a couple of inches or more, they can fly very strongly. ”

“ They then celebrate the death of the stag with a flourish of horns, and the dogs partake of the victory by their perquisite of his flesh.
All seasons are not alike proper for hunting the stag. In spring, when the forests begin to be cloathed with leaves, and the earth to be covered with verdure and flowers, their odour diminishes the scent of the hounds, and as the stag is then in his full strength it is difficult for them to overtake him. The huntsman also agree that the season when the hinds are about to bring forth is that in which the chace is attended with the most difficulty ”

“ The ordinary fox-hound has had his inheritances determined so as to fit him for pursuing a small animal which can rarely be kept in view during its flight, and which can only be followed by the odor it leaves in its trail, so these creatures run almost altogether under guidance of their sense of smell. The stag-hound, on the other hand, pursues a relatively large animal which cannot well be followed by the nose, at least with any speed; they therefore trust almost altogether to vision in their chase. ”

“ This likeness between insect and carriage does not appear so striking at this day owing to a change in the fashion towards a more sombre colour in the vehicles; their funeral blacks, dark blues, and greens being now seldom relieved with bright yellows and reds. The stag-beetle, too, when he goes away with heavy flight always gives one the idea of some kind of machine or vehicle, not like the aerial phaeton of the wasp or hornet, with its graceful lines and strongly-contrasted colours, but an oblong, ponderous, armour-plated car, furnished with a beak, and painted a deep uniform brown. ”

“ After the hounds have started chasing a stag, the hunted animal will often find another stag or a hind, and pushing it up with its horns or feet will oblige it to get up and take his place, lying down himself in the spot where he found the other, and keeping quiet, with his antlers close over his back, so that the hounds will, if care is not taken, go off in chase of the substitute. Sometimes a stag will go into a herd of deer and try to keep with them, trying to shake off his pursuers, and thus give them the change. ”

“ The stately Stag-hound, with his steady, cautious qualities, is little less valuable than the blood-hound for following a scent. Marvellous feats are related of his perseverance and strength in pursuit of his game; but since the reign of George the Third, the breed has not been kept up. That monarch was particularly fond of this description of hunting; but now, having fallen into disuse, it is not likely to be revived. Stag-hounds are somewhat smaller than the blood-hound; rougher, with a wider nose, shorter head, loose hanging ears, and a rush tail, nearly erect. ”