Related article: (ivinner) ; point at spot where a brace of partridges had been pointed by previous dogs down ; dropped to hare ; backed well ; missed partridges; pointed phea- sant at same instant as Sally Brass, but further away ; pointed partridges, but did not make them out, being ordered on by keeper ; backed; refused to hunt out the end of last field but one." Against that we had the following : — ** Mr, Nicholson's Sally Brass (pointer) ; good point at partridges; flush and drop to wing ; flush again and dropped ; dropped to hare ; missed bird and did not drop; point at pheasant the same instant Rigo found it further off; good point at partridges ; point, but did not make out birds ; flush ; no back.'* I cannot answer for the reasons we, as judges, acted on, because I only speak for one, but I know that out shooting I, personally, should have said, *' Take Sally Brass up, and then we may be able to get points and fill the bag." The Field Buy Sildalis Trial Rules are very clear that we should do as we do out shooting, quite rightly, I think ; and although it was di£Q- cult to decide, I cannot think it would have been right to have reversed what we did. Field trials are not intended for sports them- selves, but are only the means to an end, or it might have been different. G. T. T.-B. Inclination to Try. Nose, we are often told, is the great thing in a hound. But there is another thing that is of equal importance, and that is the desire and inclination to use it. There is a vast amount of difference in hounds as regards this particular characteristic. Many hounds have excellent noses, but never take the trouble to use them unless everything is in their favour, as regards scent, wind, &c., and do not make the necessary effort when the pack is at fault. I have seen two hounds in the same kennel equally good on a road of cold line down wind on a ploughed field, when they both worked alike, but vastly different in their inclination to try in nine cases out of ten. The one was always at work when it came to a check, and the other did nothing at all unless it was done for her. I had two hounds myself once that answered the above description, one died whelp- ing and the other had to be put away for old age. The one that died was by the Belvoir Nominal out of the South Wilts Actress, and the other was an old-fashioned type of English harrier bred by the late Mr. Maryon Wilson. The Belvoir Nominal took no trouble at all when hounds were at fault, and the harrier was never happy till he had hit off the line. I don't quote this as against the Belvoir hounds, for everyone knows how good they are, and I had a first-rate worker by Nominal at the time myself who led the pack. But to go back to the two hounds in question, I felt I wanted to get at the root of the matter, if it was to be got at, and I took their two heads down to the local Vet., and asked him to examine 4i8 BAILY 8 MAGAZINE. Ur^ them scientifically on strictly im- partial lines and to tell me whether there was any di£ference in the structure of the nasal organs, whether there was any reason, from the anatomist's point of view, why one hound should be better or worse than the other. He did so before my eyes, and we cut each head clean in half from the nose to the back of the neck. His verdict was, taking the organs one by one, or altogether, that the Belvoir Nominal was far and away better than the harrier. This made me feel I knew less about it than I did before, and absolutely upset the verdict of work in the field. It pointed out one thing, however, namely, that modern hound-breeding, as far as the fashionable strains are con- cerned, has in no way deteriorated the structural formation of the nasal organs. It went the other way in fact, for the brain, cere- bellum, passage of the nose and everything connected with the sense of smell, were, so the Vet. said, of the most perfect formation and structure in the Belvoir Nominal, and of a decidedly inferior order in the old-fashioned harrier. I can see them now as they lay on the table, for they were so vastly different in every way. The old-fashioned harrier's head was as hard and as tough as a piece of iron, and had to be placed in a vice and split open with a big hammer and chisel. It was a really tough job to open it. Then came the outline and the shape. The harrier had a shallow- shaped brain, something like a low- class criminal, and a thick hard roof of bone above it. I think the cerebellum or small brain was a little larger in proportion, but poorly developed, the Vet. pointed out. When it came to the Belvoir Nominal everything was the other way. The brain vtsls large and well developed and of a bell shape, most perfect in outline like yoo would expect from a fine intellec- tual head, and a highly cultivated man. It did remind me of one I had seen, in fact. Then, too, tht texture of the bone was quite different, what "we had to break and force open ipvith the vice and chisel we could do quite easily with a small hand-saw. I held the head lightly on the table aid the Vet. sawed it open with the greatest ease. Above the braia the roof of the head was of thizi bone, much finer in texture thao the harrier and of a decidedlj better class. In looking at the two heads together the impressioo was that the harrier had more brain room than the Belvoir Nominal, as the latter had a flat- looking roof from the outside, but on cutting open the head it was quite the other way. The explana- tion lay in the thickness of the roof of the skull when you got down to it, as far as the genial external formation went. The Belvoir Nominal was quite perfect. Why they ever got rid of her was a mystery. Whereas the harrier was as ugly as sin, a regular plain old-fashioned one, far behind the standard of to- day. But there it was, he could work. I did not gather much from the examination except that it was true, and therefore interest- ing. I can vouch for what I say. I am not an anatomist myself and write as an ignorant man, but it rather seemed to me to point out that the inclination is half, and more than half, the battle ; and the question is, is it hereditary? I think it is, and that you can gradually breed it in or out of a