The dogs are about 18lb. in weight, bitches 15lb. to 16lb., white in colour with more or less black and tan markings, and in work their owner says he has never seen their equal with either fox, otter, or badger.

To come to the more modern strain, of which it has been said, and with truth, that Mr. W. Carrick's Tack, born in May, 1884, is the best of his variety that we have yet seen. He is a 17lb. dog, and his chief defect lies in a scantiness of coat on his sides and ribs, and down his legs, but what there is, is of good, hard quality. Why the jacket is thin can easily be judged, for his sire Trick had for his dam Patch, a smooth-coated bitch by Buffet out of Milly, who was likewise a smooth-coated bitch descended from the Trimmer family. This Patch must not be confounded with other terriers of that name, as has been the case, for she was owned by Mr. A. Maxwell, and was not the bitch of Mr. Proctor's, that came from the same district of Durham. Tack's mother was the wire-haired bitch Lill Foiler, whose dam was said to be a granddaughter of J. Russell's Fuss, but whether this be the case is open to doubt. Lill Foiler, too, had the blood of the smooth strain in her veins, and possibly to Jester, sire of Trick, a pure terrier of the old stamp, he owes all his quality.

Indeed, this dog

has been of such service in promoting the excellence of at least one side of the present strain, that some description of him may be given.

Jester, by Pincher out of Fan, born in September, 1877, was bred by Mr. S. Rawlinson, Newton Morrell, near Darlington. There were three in the litter, all dogs, two died in puppyhood, and, his sire being sold, the alliance between him and Fan was not repeated. Jester's dam came from Mr. M. Dodds, Stocktonon-Tees, son of an ex-member of Parliament for that borough, and not from Jack Dodds, of whom Mr. A. Maxwell, Croft, purchased his favourite, and he always regretted the pedigree further than sire and dam could not be obtained. Pincher was a great prize winner about 1869-71, and was, with Mr. Donald Graham's Venom, considered the best specimen of his race about that time.

Following the above came that good bitch, Bramble, of Mr. G. F. Richardson's, size being her only fault (she was 20lb. weight), which was the common one about this period, as Balance, another first-class terrier, was too big. Mr. Lindsay Hogg's Topper, Jack Terry's Pincher, Mr. Colmore's (Burton-on-Trent) Turk; Splinter, Teazle, Toiler, were all excellent terriers, better almost than any we have now, and so was Mr. R. F. Mayhew's Brittle, which is now in America.

Mr. F. Waddington's Briggs (which afterwards went to Lord Lonsdale), the hero of an assize trial, was perhaps a terrier second only to Carlisle Tack, and Miss Miggs, Mr. F. H. Field's (and Lord Lonsdale's), was by some good judges supposed to be the best bitch of the variety ever produced. Then Mr. W. Carrick's Vora was a great favourite of mine, and so was Mr. J. W. Corner's Eskdale Tzar, a little dog that excelled in eyes, character, and hardness of jacket. When the above were in their heyday the North had the wirehairs pretty much to themselves, for Yorkshire had been one of their homes, and Mr. W. Carrick, at Carlisle, and Mr. A. Maxwell, at Croft, near Darlington, great enthusiasts in the variety, were giving much attention to them and spending money on them likewise. The former, however, after showing a young dog called Tyro at the Alexandra Palace, in 1889, when but twelve months old, which won the challenge cup and other prizes to the amount of £92, shortly after gave up exhibiting, consequent on the disqualification, six months later, of the same dog for having his ears tampered with to make them drop properly. This was a severe blow to the "fancy," and when, some time later, Mr. Maxwell likewise gave up exhibiting, the wire-haired terriers ceased for a time to prosper to any great extent.

Mr. C. W. Wharton's Bushey Broom was placed in Tyro's position, a good all-round dog, a greatgrandson of Topper's on the one side, and a grandson of Teazle's on the other; and Mr. Wharton showed good judgment when he bought him for £25. The next good dogs to follow him were Mr. Harry Jones' (Ipswich) Jack St. Leger and Jigger, two characteristic terriers, brothers, and for the most part their pedigree is confined to the blood of the smooth variety. Jack St. Leger made his successful début at the Crystal Palace Company's first show in 1889, but good dog though he is, I should place him a position lower in the scale than either Tack or Bushey Broom. After scoring various successes with his two terriers, Mr. Jones disposed of them to Mr. A. E. Clear, of Maldon, Essex, who at the time I write has the largest and best kennel of wire-haired terriers in the country. However, I anticipate.

Other good dogs before the close of the eighties were Pickering Nailer, Cavendish, Jack Frost, Barton Marvel, Liffey, Lord Edward, and Quantock Nettle. Nor must Filbert, better known as Pulborough Jumbo, be forgotten, a black-headed dog, which after being purchased for £7 found a new owner for £100. He had no pedigree, was taken to be drowned as a puppy; an accident saved his life then, as another mishap did a little later, when he had been sentenced

to death by hanging to the nearest tree. However, he survived to be an ornament to the show bench. These wire-haired terriers were generally game, and one called Ajax, to which I had given sundry prizes in the North of England, I afterwards met at the Sherbourne Hound Show, when exhibited under the name of Lynx, by Moss, Lord Portman's huntsman; he took premier honours for terriers that had run with hounds. On inquiry I learned that he was as good at driving a fox out of his earth as need be desired.

During the past two years I do not think wirehaired fox terriers have made much, if any, headway; rather I fancy they have retrograded. Many of the old exhibitors and breeders of them have dropped out of the show ranks; Mr. Percy Reid, Mr. Lindsay Hogg, Mr. S. E. Shirley, Mr. Mark Wood, Mr. Harding Cox, Mr. F. H. Field, Mr. Colmore, and Mr. Carrick to wit. Nor have their places yet been occupied. Mr. Clear gives, as already stated, his kennels to the wire-haired fox terriers, and so does Mr. C. W. Wharton, and in Devonshire Mr. A. Damarell does likewise; Mr. Rotherham Cecil, at Dronfield, near Sheffield, had for a short time a number of good terriers; at Beverley Mr. E. Welburn at times turns out some dogs of more than usual excellence, and in the Darlington and