The Washington herald., 1912-06-30

and others fond of all the ami
mails and birds on earth are ad-
vised to visit the South Kensing-
ton Museum, which is the natural his
tory branch of the British Museum, Lon
don. The Rensington building is an
enormous place and only a twopenny
fare from Charing Cross-virtually the
centre of the metropolis. The collection
of everything with legs and wings is
nothing short Of wonderful In an ordi-
nary geological collection many Of the
most interesting creatures are asleep or
otherwise behind the scenes. At South
Kensington, however, every dead beast
and bird is very much "alive," and one
can study its form and peculiarities with
much detail and continued charm.
Thanks to the trustees of the museum,
from time to time specimens of prize dogs
are deposited here. As they are well set
up by frst class suffers the type of the
period is thus preserved, and the genera
tons to come will be able to gather what
the dogs of our time were really like in
the flesh.
All dogs are named and their breed
ing, owner and records given forth in
plain lettering.
The day of stuf5ng animals skins with
tow are over. The model Of the body is
now made of plaster and the skin is fitted
on to the prepared block of the proper
tons of the living dog.
Already there is noticeable a consider
able change of type, an evolution that
ran hardly be carried in the minds eye,
among the dogs of quite recent times.
The bloodhounds are magnihcently set
up. And how nice it is to look around
and consider the origin of these hounds
and wish there had been a chance to OBJ
serve the specimens or examples Of old,
exhibited in the same way, so that wei
could gather information on the blood
hounds of 1870, when they were known !
, as the lemor or lymer. The book tells
US that some authorities dispute such a !
pedigree and the bloodhound is common
ly believed to be derived from the Talbot
Cthe ancestors of the true hounds, and
thus from the St Hubert of the Ardennes.
The latter dates from very early times,
certainly from those of the Gauls. In
the eighth century it was called the Flem-
ish hound, of which there were two
strains, known as the black Cblack and
tam and the white. St. Huberts were
brought to England at the Conquest and
again in the time of James I. They were
deep voiced dogs with great powers of
scent These two properties we know
are Characteristic of the modern blood
hound, which differs somewhat in ap-
2earance from its ancestors.
Rare Type of Bloodhound.
The bloodhound Chatley Brilliant in
the flesh was of rare type, but apparent
y small, or at least not of full size and
stature. Her ears were long, while her
wrinkles and hews were excellent Chat
ley Blazer was a black and tan, very
long in the head, the ears, fews and
wrinkles were good, and he had lots or
plenty of a good, useful serviceable
hound coat. Chatley Blazer was an own
brother to Chatley Brilliant, who died
il November, 1905, and was winner of
the first prize at the Crystal Palace,
London, in 1903, as well as of other
prizes. Both skins were presented to
the museum by the breeder and owner
of these bounds, Mr.. Oiphant.
What q study the head of Champion
Babbo is! 1 am sure that the view of i
this head is worth going a long way to
see. The length of ears is remarkable.
The skull is long, there are huge wrinkles,
heavy lips and an enormous dewlap. One ,
would take it as a perfect head of a
bloodhound and a study for all time. In
this ef6gy the trustees are handing down {
to posterity the head properties of a most {
beautiful creature belonging to a breed i
of dog that is highly esteemed and right !
" placed at the forefront of the stud
book II
How the bloodhound breeders of the &
day will look upon that head in April,
1895, just one hundred years after Mr.. Z
Edwin Brough's champion BabbO was
born! Babbo died in 1901. i
Then we have Burnaby, which Mr.. I
Brough considers was the best hound he I
ever bred. As that gentleman is acknowl- L
edged to be the leading breeder Of blood Is
hounds in the world it is interesting to s