is required of such dogs as the Robsons keep in Northumberland! Every time such terriers as these go out they carry, as it were, "their lives in their hands." They have to kennel with hounds who might worry them, live on rough but homely fare, swim through wet drains, or go to ground in huge fox. earths from which they may never return to see the light of day again. There is the danger of receiving fatal wounds from their game, be it fox or otter, sweetmart or foulmart, any of which may tear up a nose or split an ear, and finish the career of the recipient of such an injury so far as the show-bench would be concerned. There are terriers which I have already described kept for the latter alone, and no doubt many of them are game enough, but for the wild, rough work of hunting in its various forms, other terriers are required as assistants to the hounds, and such of them as I know shall come under the heading of this chapter. And note at the outset that I believe the terriers of which I am about to write have far hardier constitutions, and are stronger physically, than their more fashionable cousins. I have had prize fox terriers of my own, about as good and game as ever were made, properly trained, and entered and kennelled with hounds. Such would go to ground and do all that was required of them, but after a long day they required carrying home,

when the so-called mongrels" were trudging away at the tails of the hounds. They have heart enough, and the inclination, but the physical strength and constitution are deficient.

There is or was no particular range or locality for these working terriers; they extended from Northumberland in the north, to Devonshire in the west, and were to be met with in almost every intermediate county.

Away in Devonshire the Rev. John Russell possessed some almost entirely white, hard-jacketed little fellows, whose good qualities are not yet forgotten. They are alluded to in an earlier chapter. Then in far distant Yorkshire we had another terrier, equally game and as good looking, and from which has sprung the rough-coated fox terrier now so numerous at our leading dog shows. Wherever hunting the fox, the badger, or the otter was followed these good terriers were found, and perhaps, with the two exceptions named and a few others, such were black and tan, yellow or red of various shades, or pepper and salt. Many of them had some white on their breasts, a white foot or two, and a dash of the same between the black nose and the dark piercing little eyes was not uncommon. Such dogs varied in size, but were usually less than 20lb. in weight, and if trained and entered, proved

admirable hands at destroying vermin. Old Will Norris, for fifty years or more a noted earthstopper connected with the East Kent hounds, had a terrier which, to judge from an engraving in the Sporting Magazine about 1833, was an exact counterpart of some of those shown not long ago by Mr. C. H. Beck, Dr. Edwards-Ker, Mr. Ashwen, and others as Welsh terriers. Yet his was purely a local strain, that would well have been worth preserving.

One has distinct recollections of various families of terriers, not show dogs, but animals kept as companions, and trained to hunt and do the work intended for them. Such had always good legs and feet and strong constitutions, the latter not a sine qua non in the champions of the present era. The North of England was usually prolific in producing terriers; the working artisans in the manufacturing centres owned them; the masters of hounds who hunted the foxes on the hills and mountains, where horses could not follow, and only few men, always required a creeping terrier," that would bolt a fox or worry him in the hole if he refused to face the open. Some had a dash of bull terrier blood in them, others had not. Of the former was a well-known dog called Tory, about 22lb. weight, with ears cropped. He was all white, had a hard, wiry coat, narrow in front, possessed of good

legs and feet, and built somewhat on racing lines. The latter gave him such pace, and he was so good a killer, that he often ran far into a stake for whippets, which are nothing else but miniature greyhounds. Tory was a poacher's dog; he could drive hares into the nets at night, and be useful with the ferrets in the daytime; moreover, as a killer of vermin and cats unequalled, he was always in request when the "mart-hunters" required assistance to their fox and otter hounds. Tory was quiet and good-tempered, but when roused could fight with, and more than hold his own against, any quarrelsome collie in the district. He was the last of his strain-where he came from I know not-but as a workman no better dog ever lived.

About the same period, or a little later, a sporting stonemason of my acquaintance had a little terrier, not more than 6lb. in weight, a cross-bred one, with a longish coat, and not the slightest sign of the Yorkshire toy about her, who was a perfect wonder. As the fellow said, "killing a score of rats was a little holiday to her"; she would buckle a fox, and her love for creeping was an actual nuisance, for whenever she saw an open drain or sewer, ferret-like she would give herself a shake and immediately disappear on an exploration sub-terrestrial. The only other bona fide toy I ever knew—that is, a dog under

6lb. weight that loved creeping-was a little yellow bitch, which went with the old Stockton otter

hounds many years ago. This was a game little creature, but, unfortunately, excitement with hounds, and a "mark" at some holt, repeatedly brought on a fit, which quite spoiled the pleasure of seeing her good work. Amongst other notable terriers was one of my own earliest possessions, which was peculiar only in appearance. He was a chesnut in colour, darker on the back, and shading down to tan on the legs and sides; his nose, too, was of the same hue, and his eyes formed an exact match. Handsomeness was not his characteristic. Then we called him a Scotch terrier, now his coat would have been plucked to make him eligible for the Welsh terrier class. His accomplishments were many, for, in addition to leaping through hoops, sitting up, and walking on his hind legs, he could retrieve fur and feather well and quickly. In the field, either above or under ground, he would do all required of a terrier, and as a rat hunter at the water's edge he had no superior; and a big, strong rat in the river or canal affords sport-well, certainly of a higher class than rabbit coursing with fox terriers and miniature greyhounds.

A little hard-coated, dirty-coloured fawn bitch, about 161b. weight, of the common strain the writer