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
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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