The form of the Greyhound is as well known as that of any Dog: its long, slender muzzle, capacious chest, slender loins, and beautifully-shaped limbs, are familiar to every one; the latter form a set of spring-levers only equalled by the limbs of a Racehorse or a Deer. The colour is very variable—black, white, fawn, or brindled. The hair is short and fine, and the ears rise erect for a certain height and then hang over.
This Dog is now used only for coursing or hare-hunting. In performing this task, it is guided entirely by the eye, its sense of smell being deficient, and practically of no importance in the chase: so that if once the Greyhound loses sight of the game, the latter is started again by a Spaniel. The speed attained by a good Greyhound is very remarkable: it is, indeed, only just inferior to that of a Racehorse.
THE SCOTCH GREYHOUND.
This is a more strongly-built variety or sub-breed of the Common or English Greyhound. It is less swift than its southern brother, but more muscular, more hairy, and inclined to “dodge” the Hare in coursing, instead of winning by speed alone.
THE DEERHOUND.
This is a well-marked variety of the Greyhound breed, distinguished by stronger form, shaggy hair, and drooping ears. Both in appearance and in disposition it is wilder and more savage than the Greyhound; sometimes being decidedly inclined to ferocity. It was a Dog of this breed, named “Maida,” which was the special favourite of Sir Walter Scott, and which is so often painted by the side of the great novelist, who describes his noble hound, under the name of “Bevis,” in “Woodstock,” as being “in strength a Mastiff, in form and almost in fleetness a Greyhound. Bevis was the noblest of the kind which ever pulled down a Stag, tawny-coloured like a Lion, with a black muzzle and black feet, just edged with a line of white round the toes. He was as tractable as he was strong and bold.”
THE TURKISH GREYHOUND,
if Greyhound it should be called, is a small Dog, either entirely devoid of hair, or having only a few hairs on its tail. “He is never now in the field, and bred only as a spoiled pet—and yet not always spoiled, for anecdotes are related of his inviolable attachment to his owner. One of them belonged to a Turkish Pacha, who was destroyed by the bowstring. He would not forsake the corpse, but laid himself down by the body of his murdered master, and presently expired.”[112]