others of her race, was very delicate, which no doubt arose from continued in-breeding. Mr. McDonald's Duke was larger, but equally good in other respects, and for a time these two won first and second at all the shows where they competed; this was about twenty to twenty-three years ago.

'Stonehenge" alludes to one dog, Gowan's Billy, the best of his day, about 1857, where grandsire, great grandsire, gg. grandsire, ggg. grandsire, and gggg., were all the same dog. He was a lovely specimen in appearance, but, as would certainly be the case under such circumstances, his stock was delicate in the extreme.

As a rule, the males of the Italian greyhounds do not approach the females in diminutiveness and elegance of form; thus the bitches beat the dogs when they meet, which they usually do in the same class, the entry in which is always so meagre as to preclude the possibility of two divisions being made.

The best classes of Italian greyhounds of recent years have, with slight exceptions been found at the Scottish shows, where Mr. Bruce, Dundee Court, Falkirk, was accustomed to exhibit some beautiful little dogs, which were certainly in advance of any we had this side of the border, his Wee Flower,

Crucifix, Bankside Daisy, and others, being quite celebrities in their way. Mr. Bruce's entries have been missing of late, but in his place Miss H. M. Mackenzie, of New Cross, has come into prominence, and so far as I can make out, at the present time possesses the finest and most valuable kennel of Italian greyhounds in the country, and appears to be quite invincible in the show ring. Occasionally a smaller dog, as Mr. Turner's Larkfield Shrimp, has been placed at the top of the prize list, but the latter, to my mind, shows unmistakable signs of recent terrier cross. Miss Mackenzie's Juno, Sappho, Como, Dido, and Carlo, are undoubtedly very firstrate specimens, and I am told by their owner that her strains are quite as strong, hardy, and intelligent as other toy dogs, or even more so; the smallest of Miss Mackenzie's choice little creatures weighs 5 lb. This is her beautiful bitch Dido, which, I need hardly say, has won several prizes, and is a grand-daughter of Jack, mentioned later on. Sappho and Carlo weigh 9lb. each in good condition, Como 6 lb., and Juno is 63lb., which I take to be quite small enough for the purposes for which they are required.

In a conversation with Miss Mackenzie, I learned that there are, at the time I write, some dozen or so Italian greyhounds in her kennels, and all are

strong and hardy, full of life and play, are never sheeted, and can stand a shower of rain as well as any other dog. Moreover, they are remarkably free from illness or disease, and no case of distemper has ever occurred in her kennels. The bitches suckle and rear their own puppies from four to six at a time, and are no more trouble than are other dogs on similar occasions. The great difficulty Miss Mackenzie finds is in obtaining fresh blood of the real Italian greyhound, such I mean as does not contain terrier cross however remote. The latter is shown where puppies come black and tan, whilst in the real article, only whole coloured or perhaps fawn and white or red and white young ones are born.

I

It may be interesting to note that the parent of Miss Mackenzie's kennel was a dog called Jack, purchased in 1879 in Smithfield Market from a labouring man for ten shillings. He was a beautiful dog, about 1 1lb. in weight, strong, symmetrical, active, thoroughly healthy, and pretty well on to eighteen years of age when he died; he never sired a badly coloured puppy. From the butcher purchaser in the market, Jack went to Miss Mackenzie, with whom he died. Of course there was no pedigree. However, ten years or more after at one of the Birmingham shows, a visitor introduced himself to

Miss Mackenzie, admired her tiny dogs which were sired by Jack. Now comes the curious fact of the matter. The man, who came from the neighbourhood of Rugby, said his late master had, about the time that Jack was purchased, lost a dog in London similar to him in every way. The dog had been his constant companion both in the country and in town, and on the night when he was lost, had slipped out of the carriage whilst a purchase was being made, much to the regret of the master who quite failed to trace the lost dog. From certain marks and peculiarities, no doubt the Smithfield ten shilling purchase was the dog in question, indeed, so convinced was Miss Mackenzie that such was the case, that an offer was made to restore the dog to his former owner. Unfortunately, the gentleman in question had then been dead two or three years.

The parents of this dog Jack had both been brought from Italy, his sire being about 12 lb. in weight, and said to be so strong and swift as to gain successes as a rabbit courser in Warwickshire.

No doubt the health of Miss Mackenzie's specimens is due to the fact that they are sprung from big dogs and bitches, and that no attempt has been made to cross them with the delicate,

diminutive toy terrier. At present the specimens of her strain are growing smaller, but so long as pains are taken to breed from healthy, sound parents, there is no reason to doubt that the Italian greyhound in such good, careful hands may become fashionable. In a perfect specimen elegance is "caninified," if such a word may be used, and it is to be regretted that there are not more persons who at present take any interest in the variety. So far as I can make out, a Mr. Anstice, of Hammersmith, is about the only other person who of late years has given much attention to their breeding. I believe he has not hitherto exhibited any of his dogs.

That the Italian greyhound can be appreciated by others not so civilized as ourselves, is proved by the statement which recently appeared in the papers, that the Matabele monarch, Lobengula, before he became our enemy, quite fell in love with an Italian greyhound he saw at Johannesburg. For a long time its owner, Mr. Luscombe Searelle, refused to part with his favourite, but in the end struck a bargain, he receiving two hundred head of cattle for his little dog. The black king was very much pleased with the exchange, which he left in charge of two of his chiefs, with the orders, should any evil happen to the dog, the chiefs' lives would be forfeited.