. Our domestic animals, their habits, intelligence and usefulness; tr. from the French of Gos. De Voogt, by Katharine P. Wormeley;. Domestic animals. 10 OUR DOMESTIC ANIMALS. ExdLLsii Mastiff combats between mastiffs and bears or bulls. These arena contests were probabl)- fought by a cross breed of mastiffs and Ii'ish wolfhounds ; very cer- tainly they did not resemble the modern mastiff. The latter now stands f r o m twent)'-fi\'e to l\\'ent\'- eight inches high from ground to shoulder, antl has a weight of one hundred to two hundred pounds. The muzzle and ears are black, and the dog himself
. Our domestic animals, their habits, intelligence and usefulness; tr. from the French of Gos. De Voogt, by Katharine P. Wormeley;. Domestic animals. 10 OUR DOMESTIC ANIMALS. ExdLLsii Mastiff combats between mastiffs and bears or bulls. These arena contests were probabl)- fought by a cross breed of mastiffs and Ii'ish wolfhounds ; very cer- tainly they did not resemble the modern mastiff. The latter now stands f r o m twent)'-fi\'e to l\\'ent\'- eight inches high from ground to shoulder, antl has a weight of one hundred to two hundred pounds. The muzzle and ears are black, and the dog himself is the color of a roc- buck or deer. Sometimes, also, i the whole body is of a much darker shade. T//r bulldog. The bulldog, smaller than the mastiff, is related to him and to his combative ancestors. These dogs seem much more furious than they really are. To what caprices ha\'e they not been subjected in view of ex- hibitions ! At one time breeders e\'en went so far that little was wanting to make their bodies and paws so eccen- tric in form that they could hardl)- drag themseh'es about. Happil}*, in the present day, this danger is averted, to the great joy of all true sportsmen, and the bulldog now stands on his own four paws. It is doubtful, however, whether the prize wdnners of to-da)' wciuld issue triumphantly from the arena after such bullfights as those in which the seventeenth-century mastiffs took such a prominent part. Henri II, Queen Mary, and Princess Elizabeth of England encouraged those combats, but in 1689 we find them forbidden at Amsterdam, dogs trained for such fights being called " bear biters," a name still to be heard on the banks of the Amstel. The bull- og should be small, massive, and rather thickset, especially about the head ; the muzzle should be thrust forward and raised impudenth', the under jaw ad- \'anced b e y o n d the upper, the lips hang- ing hea\'ily on each side of the chops, the nose broad, and the teeth large and often \is
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