breed it is very seldom indeed that the classes for the ordinary bull terrier are made according to weight. Thus there has been no inducement to produce those excellent little dogs of not more than 15lb., for such would have slight chance of being successful against an equally good specimen half as heavy again. That there is material for re-popularising the small sized variety I am quite certain, and at one or two recent shows several very nice little dogs have been present, at least their character and style were nice, but their crooked fore legs and wide shoulders were far removed from perfection. The Ladies' Kennel Association have at their gatherings made classes for toy bull terriers, but such seem to make no headway, although Lady Decies and Lady Evelyn Ewart have exhibited some nice little dogs mostly under 10lb. in weight.

Messrs. Lea, of Birmingham, once had some good bull terriers; so had Mr. S. Fielding, of Trentham; whilst Mr. F. North, of Clapham, was particularly successful, and his Streatham Monarch, sold to an American fancier for about £80, was certainly one of the best bull terriers of his time. Mr. G. Blair's White Queen (Edinburgh) was likewise another of our very best bull terriers; indeed, I consider these two quite equal to anything we have had since Mr. Hartley's brace, already mentioned.

Grand Prior, who won many prizes, was not deserving of a high place of excellence, solely on account of mouth was not level, and for this

the fact that his

reason Mr. S. E.

Shirley put him out of the prize list at one of the Bath shows. Another celebrated bull terrier whose mouth was similarly faulty was Mr. Hartley's Magnet. I fancy that, in what I should call the palmy days of bull terriers, a dog with such a malformation would never have been shown, or, at any rate, he would never have attained that high position which Grand Prior appears to have done.

Other modern large-sized bull terriers of more than ordinary excellence have been Messrs. C. and P. Lea's Greenhill Wonder and Faultless; Mr. T. F. Gibson's Sherbourne King; Mr. G. H. Marshall's Boston Wonder; Mr. J. W. Gibson's Bellerby Queen; Mr. J. R. Pratt's Greenhill Surprise; Mr. F. Bateson's Lord Gully, Perseverance, and Le Rose; Mr. A. Carson's Hanover Daisy; Mr. R. Wanamaker's Modesty, Faultless, and Full of Fashion; Mr. B. Garside's Greenhill Romeo; Mr. H. E. Monk's Bloomsbury Tarquin, Prince, Beatrice, Broughton, Burge, Katie, Bend Or, and others; Mr. F. Hinks' Amiability; Mr. C. Houlker's Greenhill Duchess; Mr. A. Jeans has a fair kennel of bull terriers; and this list might be considerably

extended, though I have probably mentioned the best bull terriers up to date. Mr. W. J. Pegg, Woodcote, Epsom, but now of Wimbledon, had for a time a particularly strong kennel of these dogs, which he seemed to give up in favour of bull dogs. He was one of our most successful breeders of the variety, his Woodcote Wonder, Woodcote Pride, Woodcote Primrose, and some others being particularly good. To him I am indebted for the use of the dogs in the illustration which precedes this article, the natural ears on the animals being particularly appropriate at the time the drawings were made. Since then a more uniform type of ear has become fairly common, and may-be in a few years the more or less rose or folding ear will be the only style allowed by the club.

Ten years ago, the late Jesse Oswell, of Birmingham-a prize-fighter by profession, but a gentleman in nature-had some good dogs, nor must the names of Mr F. Hinks, Birmingham; Mr. James Chatwin, Edgbaston; Messrs. Marriott and Green, Gloucester; Mr. J. Rickards, Birmingham ; Mr. J. H. Ryder, Manchester; Mr. Firmstone, Stourbridge; Mr. C. L. Boyce, and Mr. R. Wanamaker, be forgotten, as the owners and breeders of choice specimens of this variety. In London, Mr. A. George, a son of the celebrated Bill George, has

of

given much attention to the breeding and exhibition of bull terriers, and between him and Mr. F. Hinks, Birmingham, must be divided the honour attending the reputation of being the largest dealers in bull terriers. in this country; whilst at the time of writing this the best kennel of the variety is undoubtedly that possessed by Mr. H. E. Monk, of Clapham-road, London. Allusion has already been made to what must be considered the small variety of bull terriers, such dogs as are under 16lb. weight, and not animals of 25lb. weight starved down until they can be shown in the class restricted to animals not more than 20lb. In our early days of dog shows these little bull terriers were common and remarkably popular. Now a really good specimen is not to be found, nor is there any inducement to reproduce such a dog.

Those who can carry their recollection of bull terriers back for thirty years and more, will remember such dogs as Dick, Nelson, little Rebel, Triton, Jenny, Kit, Riot, and others shown by Mr. S. E. Shirley; and Mr. Addington's Billy, Mr. J. Willock's Billy, Mr. J. F. Godfree's Napper, Mr. S. Lang's Rattler (a 10lb. dog), and Mr. J. Hinks's Daisy. These were all bull terriers under 16lb. in weight, shapely, well made, smart, and so far as I can learn, and know from my own experience, were as game and hardy as any terrier ever bred. Somehow or

other they came to languish ; the classes provided for them did not fill, and with the result that now stares us in the face, the little bull terrier is no more-at least, he is no more in that perfection of form we saw him on the benches in Birmingham and in London, when Mr. Shirley's gallant little dog Nelson "ruled the roast."

In 1866 there were twenty entries of bull terriers under 10lb. weight at the London show, and at Laycock's Dairy Yard three years later there were thirty-two bull terriers under 15lb. weight against nineteen over that size. Then the former had two classes provided, the latter one class. Now things are otherwise, nor can I agree that the fittest survive. Most of these terriers came from the Midlands, Birmingham being responsible for the best of them. Nelson was so bred; but another good one of Mr. Shirley's, Dick, had some strain of London blood in him. Unfortunately, the pedigrees of these earlydate little bull terriers were no more reliable than were those of their larger cousins, and I fancy that they were bred so in and in that they became difficult to rear and so degenerated. They were never toys, like the small black and tan terriers, and even when crossed with the white English terrier, then more numerous than he is to-day, they maintained their distinguishing character as well as could be expected under the circumstances.