the Irish wolfhound and the Scottish deerhound, were identical, and indeed, that the latter was merely an ordinary greyhound, with a rough, hard coat, produced by beneficent Nature to protect a delicate dog against the rigours of a northern climate.

About the end of the sixteenth century (1591), we are told that the Earl of Mar had large numbers of these deerhounds, but at the same period the Duke of Buckingham had great difficulty in obtaining Irish wolf dogs, a few couples of which, he wished to present to "divers princes and other nobles." So the Irish dog was even then becoming extinct, but the Scottish one, though rarer later on, survives to the present day, and is now more popular and numerous than at any previous period of his existence. Still, judging from what Pennant, writing in 1769, says, the deerhound must, about his time, have been in danger of extinction, for he says, "he saw at Gordon Castle, a true Highland greyhound, which has become very scarce. It was of large size, strong, deep chested, and covered with very long and rough hair. This kind was in great vogue in former days, and used in vast numbers at the magnificent stag chases by powerful chieftains."

One or two authors have assumed that the modern deerhound is a cross between the foxhound and the greyhound, or between the bloodhound and

the greyhound, but this I consider quite incorrect, nor in my researches have I been able to come across anything likely to sustain such a statement. If the deerhound is to be found in greater numbers now than previously, it is only because more attention is paid to his breeding, and because the many strains that a hundred years and more ago were in the out of the way places of the Highlands have, by better communication, been brought within the radius of canine admirers. Scrope, in his "Deer Stalking," published in 1838, has naturally much to write about the deerhound. He it is recommends the foxhound and greyhound cross, and says that the celebrated sportsman Glengarry crossed occasionally with bloodhound, still Macneill of Colonsay, who wrote the article in " Days of Deerstalking," that deals mostly with those hounds, confesses that there were still pure deerhounds to be found when he states them to be very scarce at the time he wrote. Maybe they were scarce, but not sufficiently so as to induce people to attempt to reproduce them by such an unhallowed alliance.

A favourite sporting author from my earliest boyhood days has been Charles St. John, who, in his "Highland Sports," writes so charmingly and naturally of all he saw and shot and caught during his excursions. He wrote but eight years after Scrope,

still he says that the breed of Deerhounds which "had nearly become extinct, or, at any rate, was very rare a few years ago, has now become comparatively plentiful in all the Highland districts, owing to the increased extent of the preserved forests and the trouble taken by different proprietors and masters of mountain shootings who have collected and bred this noble race of dogs regardless of expense and difficulty." Not a word about Macneill's crosses or of those of Glengarry; and I am happy in the belief that our present race of deerhounds does not contain the slightest taint of bloodhound or foxhound blood for over a century. If it did, surely the black and tan colour and the greyhound markings would continually be appearing. I have yet to see a black and tan deerhound, or one similar to a foxhound in hue.

What an excellent picture St. John draws of Malcolm: "as fine a looking lad, of thirty-five, as ever stepped on heather," and of his two hounds, Bran and Oscar, whose descriptions tally with what I shall later on give to be those of a deerhound. There were no bloodhound and foxhound in Bran or Oscar, and well might such handsome, useful, faithful creatures, or similar ones, be worth the £50 a-piece, they would have brought even forty-five years ago.

Since St. John wrote some deer forests have been broken up into smaller holdings, and to this, perhaps,

There

may be attributed the fact that "coursing deer" is not followed so much as in his time. are still some forests in which a deerhound may be taken out to assist at the termination of a stalk; but as the red deer is now mostly killed in "drives,” a sort of battue in which the shooter can sit at ease until the deer come by, to be shot in a somewhat ignominious manner, the deerhound as such is little used. A stalker will find one useful at times, but even he is supplied with such a perfect rifle, so admirably sighted, and he is such a crack shot, that the stag seldom requires more than the hard bullet to kill him almost dead upon the spot.

About three years ago, the Earl of Tankerville, in a series of articles he wrote for the Field, made allusion to the deerhound. He said some that he saw were beautiful, swift, and powerful. Some are able to pull down a stag single handed, but the bravest always gets killed in the end. The pure breed have keen noses as well as speed, and will follow the slot of a wounded deer perseveringly if they find blood. The most valued are not necessarily the most savage, for the latter (the reckless ones) go in and get killed, whilst the more wary, who have taken the hint after a pug or two, are equally enduring, and will hold their bay for any indefinite time, which is a merit of the first importance."

Lord Tankerville continues, that he was informed of a remarkable deerhound, belonging to a poacher in Badenoch, that never missed a deer. In due course he obtained the hound, and called it Bran. Later on it saved the life of a keeper from the furious attack of one of the wild bulls of Chillingham. After being delivered to his new home, Bran was placed in the kennel, and it was thought that the pallisades with which it was surrounded were sufficiently high to prevent any dog getting over them. However, Bran did succeed in scaling them, and Lord Tankerville, having paid his money and lost his dog, was considerably upset, and never thought of seeing the hound again. However, in a few days the poacher" brought back the errant Bran, who had, in fact, reached his old home before his master, who was considerably astonished, on reaching his cottage, to see his old companion rush forward to meet him. The distance between Chillingham and the man's cottage was about seventy miles, and, to take the shortest route, which Bran no doubt did or he would have caught his master on the road, he must have swum Loch Ericht.

No doubt modern dog shows have done much to re-popularise the deerhound, now that he is so seldom used for that purpose for which, shall I say, nature first intended him. How little he is used in