a stump of a tail than in any other variety of dogs. It is said that
a docked dog can be told from one that has been born tailless in this
way; when the docked animal is pleased, a slight movement at the end
of the spine where the tail was cut off is discernible, but the
naturally tailless dog sways the whole of its hind-quarters.




CHAPTER XIII

THE BLOODHOUND


The Bloodhound was much used in olden times in hunting and in the
pursuit of fugitives; two services for which his remarkable acuteness
of smell, his ability to keep to the particular scent on which he
is first laid, and the intelligence and pertinacity with which he
follows up the trail, admirably fit him. The use and employment of
these dogs date back into remote antiquity. We have it on the
authority of Strabo that they were used against the Gauls, and we
have certain knowledge that they were employed not only in the
frequent feuds of the Scottish clans, and in the continuous border
forays of those days, but also during the ever-recurring hostilities
between England and Scotland.

Indeed, the very name of the dog calls up visions of feudal castles,
with their trains of knights and warriors and all the stirring
panorama of these brave days of old, when the only tenure of life,
property, or goods was by the strong hand.