“He’s strong and he’s straight, lads, his tongue like a bell,
And the stout heart that’s in him, lads, tongue cannot tell,
For to breast the steep hill-sides, where faint hearts must fail,
And to sweep the wide moors in the teeth of the gale.”

The hunting man from the Shires, on paying his initial visit to one or other of the fell packs, will no doubt be struck by the very different appearance of these hounds from those to which he has been accustomed.

For many years past Masters of hounds have bred for an exclusive type, as represented by the Peterborough standard. Unfortunately there are comparatively few hunting countries to which hounds of this exclusive type are exactly suited, yet, for various reasons, mainly financial, the majority of packs are composed of hounds very close to the standard.

A pack of hounds is got together with the object of showing sport and killing foxes. Throughout Great Britain the character of the individual hunting countries differs considerably. From the[48] Hampshire downs and the vale country of the Shires, we progress northward through varying types of country, until we reach the fells of Cumberland and Westmorland, which comprise some of the wildest and roughest ground in England.

Any one who has had much experience of riding to hounds in different countries knows that the type of horse suited, let us say to Cumberland, would be entirely out of place in Warwickshire, which is fairly representative of a sound grass country. Now a horse ridden by a man who means to see sport and be with hounds must cross the same line of country taken by the latter. If, therefore, to enable him to do this with ease to himself and his rider the horse should be of the correct type, is it not equally necessary, in fact more so, for the hounds to be of a type most suited to the requirements of their particular country?

I think those Masters who set utility in advance of fashion where their hounds are concerned, will agree with me when I express the opinion that a deviation in type from the Peterborough standard, in order to improve the sport-showing qualities of a pack, should enhance rather than militate against their financial value.

Unfortunately, nowadays, the reverse is the case. As an example, I will take a hound from each of three very different countries, i.e. the[49] Warwickshire, the Radnorshire, and the Blencathra.

The Warwickshire hound is of the fashionable type, and we will suppose his show value, in competition on the flags, is 100 points. The Radnorshire hound under the same conditions will be judged at say, 50 points, while the Blencathra hound cannot be allowed more than 25 points.

The financial value of these hounds would show an equally remarkable difference. If we credit the Warwickshire winner as worth 90 guineas, the Radnorshire hound will fetch perhaps 20 guineas, while the Blencathra representative we can set down for a sum of 3 guineas.

Examining their utility value in the same way, the Warwickshire hound may take the field four days a fortnight. He may continue to run up till his fifth or sixth season. The Radnorshire hound can, if required, do his five days a fortnight, and will probably be a runner-up until his seventh season. The Blencathra hound will come out three, if not four, days per week, and he has been known to do even more than this, whilst he will continue to run up till his ninth or tenth season, barring accidents amongst the crags.

The above comparisons tend to show how little real encouragement is held out to a modern Master of hounds to breed for utility and sport instead of exclusive type and consequent financial value.
 
The hound required to successfully cope with the exigencies of the fell country of Cumberland and Westmorland should conform to the following specification:—

Light in frame, and particularly well let-down and developed in hind quarters. Hare-footed, as opposed to the round cat-foot of the standard type. Good neck, shoulders and loin, long in pastern, and ribs carried well back. A good nose, plenty of tongue, and last, but by no means least, pace.

Owing to financial considerations, the fell packs are small, therefore individual hounds have to take the field much oftener than those composing the fashionable packs. They are kept, too, under less artificial conditions, and in consequence are quite able to run up for many seasons, and are seldom sick or sorry.

Although on the fells there is plenty of ground where hounds can race on a good scenting day, the majority of it consists of steep slopes, rock and loose shale, in addition to huge crags and cliffs. The fences consist of big stone walls.

“CRACKER.” Late of the Coniston pack. A big hound of the fell type.

“MISCHIEF.” Late of the Coniston pack. A bitch of the fell type.

A hound of the exclusive type is absolutely unsuited to such a country, for the following reasons: His weight is against him, as well as his short, straight pasterns, and round cat-feet. Jumping from a height, or running downhill on rough ground, his pasterns, owing to lack of spring, fail to minimise jar and concussion; no matter how[51] good his shoulders may be. His round, over-developed, and practically malformed feet, are of little help to him either for crossing rough ground, or for gripping the latter when climbing crags and steep slopes. He is usually, too, lacking in tongue, and is not fond of working out a cold drag.

In addition, his height is against him when it comes to quick turning and running on steep ground.

A fell hound should stand under, rather than over, 22? inches.

I know many people consider a big hound more suited to jumping high stone walls than a little one, but in practice it has been proved that the small hound crosses them with greater ease. To jump properly a hound should be short-coupled, compact in build, and have his ribs carried well back. You find this to more perfection in a small hound than a big one. The short-coupled hound can get his hind legs much further under his body, and, in consequence, clears an obstacle with far less strain. Jumping off a wall, too, the light-built hound experiences less jar on landing. At the end of a long day, the light-built hounds of a pack will show less signs of fatigue than those of greater weight, and will return to kennels with their sterns gaily carried. Weight increases leg weariness, and shortens the length of a hound’s utility in the field.[52] Until the craze for show competition has run its course, both hounds and gun-dogs will suffer from it. Working ability should be the main object of the man who breeds for sport, and if he crosses workers with workers, Nature will see to it that beauty and good looks suited to the particular type will eventually accompany that ability. It is much better to do this than allow the beauty standard, or perhaps I had better say the humanly-conceived type of beauty, to take preference of working capabilities.

One of the most important points about a hound is his feet. Without sound feet he is severely handicapped from the very beginning. Many hounds of the exclusive type are so handicapped, their feet being nothing less than malformed. Owing to the shortening and cramping up of the feet, and the knuckling over at the knee, a hound of this type is useless for work in rough country.

On the fells, where hounds are bred for work and not for show, the natural or hare-foot is universal. Possessed of a lengthy surface, weight is evenly distributed along the latter, while wear and tear on the foot is properly taken up. Such a foot gets a firm grip on rocks, and offers a smooth surface to the ground on steep descents. If to such a foot we add a long, sloping pastern, jar and concussion will be brought to a minimum,[53] particularly if the shoulders are also good. Concussion acts through the nervous system on the brain, and, therefore, the working life of a hound is quickly shortened, should he be improperly constructed as regards his feet. In most kennels, the dew-claws are removed from the puppies when the latter are quite young. The fell hounds, however, retain this claw, and it is properly developed. Far from being a useless appendage, as many people imagine, the dew-claw is of assistance to a hound in surmounting slippery rocks, where he has to pull himself up. It also acts as a preventative to slipping on the ledges of the crags. Was there no use for this claw it would not develop as it does on a fell hound, and on examination it will be found to be worn on the underside of the nail, proof positive that it does its share of work.

I have already mentioned the fact that there are portions of the fell country where hounds can get up a tremendous pace, and so severely press their fox at some period of a run. If the forearm of a hound is properly put together, not only will the several parts help to minimise jar and concussion, but they will give the hound an increased capacity for speed. If the humerus or bone of the upper arm is nearly in a straight line with the ulna and radius, the pace of the hound will be much greater than if the humerus inclines at a sharper angle.
 
What is commonly known as a “loaded shoulder” is the result of the humerus inclining to a nearly horizontal position, forming an obtuse angle between itself and the scapula or shoulder blade.

The angles formed by the scapula, humerus, and radius are filled with muscle and tissue, which act detrimentally to the forward movement of the leg, the result of which means loss of pace.

In the same way with regard to the hind leg, the longer the femur the lower the hock, and the greater the speed. The more obtuse the angle between the femur and tibia, the more power is there to bring the hind legs well under the body, as well as to throw them back.
 
To sum up the desired qualities in a fell hound, we have light frame, light bone, good neck and shoulders (these can’t be too good), good ribs, loins and thighs, and last, but not least, sound feet of the hare type. Given a good nose and a capacity for throwing his tongue, such a hound will work out a cold drag, and then, after unkennelling his fox, will drive ahead at a tremendous pace. I have often heard it stated that pace is not compatible with nose, but I think any one who has had a season or two with one of the fell packs will be in a position to easily refute such statements. Hardly a season passes without some individual hound of one or other of the fell packs finding, hunting, and[55] killing a fox “on his own.” No single hound could do that in a country like the fells unless he possessed nose, pace, drive and courage in a marked degree.

The majority of the fell hounds are light-coloured; some of them practically white. This is a decided advantage on the hills, where it is impossible to keep in close touch with them. A light-coloured hound can be seen at a great distance against a background of heather or dark rock. Next to nose, however, music is most important. Even if you cannot see hounds, yet can hear them plainly, you know what to do, and which direction to take.

Hunting on the fells necessitates practising the “let ’em alone principle,” for throughout the majority of runs hounds do all their own work unaided by their huntsman. Thus they learn perseverance, which enables them to carry on when scenting conditions are not of the best.

Harking back for a moment to the subject of hound conformation, I have always been surprised that judges at the shows appear to set little or no store by the shape of a hound’s hind feet. Even with the ultra-fashionable type the hind feet are more or less as Nature formed them, and they stand wear and tear without showing signs of breaking up.

Now, this is a perfect refutation of the idea[56] that the over-developed round cat-foot is the best and most desirable. Surely when a hound standing on four feet turns the front ones in, and knuckles over at the knee, at the same time showing general inability in those feet to withstand hard wear, yet suffers from no ill effects in the hind feet, one would imagine that a judge with a modicum of common sense would see the futility in continuing to breed hounds with fore feet of the fashionable type. No, fashion prescribes such feet, and though when you wish to sell them fashionable hounds fetch big prices, their upkeep as a pack costs you ten times the amount that it would for a pack possessing sound natural feet of the hare or semi-hare type.

Whilst there are one or two countries where the cat-footed hound can travel with comparative comfort to himself, there are many more where he very soon becomes lame, and ceases to be a really useful member of the pack.

The Master who is really fond of hound work, and wishes to show sport, naturally breeds hounds suited to his particular country; that is, if his financial resources are equal to the strain. Should he by ill luck experience severe losses in his kennel, he will find great difficulty in procuring fresh hounds suited to his needs, for probably all the hounds available are of Peterborough type.

Again, should he wish to sell his pack, despite[57] the fact that the hounds are perfect in their work, they will fetch comparatively little, as they are not up to the fashionable standard in looks.

All this could be avoided if the show standard was considered from the point of view of the suitability of the hound to its particular country. Masters could then afford to breed hounds with this object, knowing that when they wished to get rid of them they would fetch a sum commensurate with their working ability.

It has often been stated that hounds require blood to keep them keen and up to the mark. Now, I think there are few hounds keener than those which hunt the fells, yet they seldom, if ever, break up their foxes in the accepted sense of the word. Now and then I have seen hounds break up and eat the greater portion of their fox, but, as a rule, they are content to kill it and leave it at that. American-bred hounds never get blood, yet they hunt season after season as keenly as English hounds which are “blooded up to the eyes.” During a long sojourn in Canada, I met and corresponded with a good many keen hunting men, quite a few of whom had imported English hounds to that country and the States. Much of the hunting country out there is very rough, and hounds are hunted on foot, or ridden to by nicking in and making for likely points. All the American foxhunters I got in touch with were emphatic in[58] their denunciation of the Peterborough type of hound, yet they had imported fell hounds, which exactly suited their requirements, and crossed well with the native-bred hounds.

It is curious, but, nevertheless true, that in England when a low-country pack run their fox to the hills they often lose him, but let the fell hounds force their fox off the fells down to the low ground and they generally kill him. The fell hounds, accustomed to do most of their work on more or less precipitous ground, no doubt feel as if they were having a day off, as it were, when they descend to the level of the dales, whereas it is the other way round with the hounds of the lowland packs. In summer the fell hounds go out to walk at the farmhouses and other places in the dales, and are brought back to kennels in the hunting season. Although a pack of fell hounds can hunt and kill a fox in any description of country, which is more than can be said for the fashionable sort, “hounds ............