34. _The BLOOD-HOUND is larger than the common hound, and is generally of a deep tan or reddish colour, with a black spot over each eye._
In the early periods of our history, blood-hounds were in much greater request than at present.--They are indebted, for their name, to the faculty with which they are endowed, of being able to trace wounded animals by their blood. Their principal employment was to recover such game as, after having been wounded, had escaped from the hunters. In most of the royal forests blood-hounds are at this day kept, for tracing wounded deer; which they are able to do, however distant the flight, or however thick the parts of the forest through which they may have passed. Deer-stealers are also frequently discovered by means of these animals.
Blood-hounds were formerly used in certain districts on the confines of England and Scotland, to overawe or pursue the depredators of flocks and herds. Of late years they have been employed in the island of Jamaica, to discover the ambuscades of the Maroons, in their projected descent upon the whites; and, in the Spanish West Indian islands, to traverse the country, in pursuit of persons guilty of murder and other crimes. The dogs are taught to act more by exciting terror than by attack; and criminals are in general taken by them, and brought to justice, without the slightest personal injury.
35. _The GREY-HOUND_ (Fig. 22) _is distinguished by his slender and curved body, his narrow muzzle, and his tail being curved upward at the extremity._
Our ancestors so highly esteemed the grey-hound, that, by the laws of Canute, it was enacted that no person under the degree of a gentleman should presume to keep a grey-hound. The pursuit of animals by these dogs is particularly denominated _coursing_. Those that were anciently coursed by them were the deer, the fox, and the hare; but they are now only used for coursing the hare. They hunt by sight, and not by scent; and their fleetness of foot is such that, in a hilly or uneven country, there are few horses which can keep pace with them.
36. _The MASTIFF_ (Fig. 23) _is a dog of large size and robust body; and has the lips hanging down at the sides._
By the ancient Britons it was customary to train these dogs to be of use in war. With us they are chiefly employed as watch dogs; and they discharge this duty in many instances with great fidelity. Some of them will suffer a stranger to come into the enclosure they are appointed to guard, and will accompany him peaceably through every part, so long as he continues to touch nothing; but the moment he attempts to lay hold of any of the goods, or endeavours to leave the place, the animal informs him, first by growling, or if that be ineffectual, by harsher means, that he must neither do mischief nor go away. He seldom uses violence unless resisted; and in this case, will sometimes seize the person, throw him down, and, without biting him, will hold him there for hours, or until relieved.