might have done so even to a greater extent had there not been the Irish terrier and the fox terrier, who had preceded him in the field. So far there has not been much change in his make and shape, although every now and then a cry out has been made about big dogs winning. The gradation to cause this is extremely simple and easy, and I believe that the climatic, domestic, and other surroundings of the Scottish terrier in the south have more than a tendency to make him grow bigger than he really ought to do. Originally few or any of the best strains ran to more than 18lb. weight at most; the majority of terriers were 4lb. below that standard. Still, when a dog is brought into the ring that in show form is 20lb., and he is good in all respects, it is a difficult matter to discard him on account of size. Thus he wins. Perhaps some time later he meets a still bigger dog, one that may run to 22lb. or 24lb., and it would be very difficult to, as it were, disqualify the latter on account of size alone. And so we have bigger dogs than many people believe to be the correct size, winning prizes.

Dundee, perhaps, when owned by Capt. Mackie, and after, did as much winning as any Scottish terrier. I fancy he of late years when on the bench, having grown wide in front and thick, would

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weigh not less than 24lb., and other dogs equally big have repeatedly been put into the prize lists at our leading shows. Indeed, one well-known English admirer of the variety says the great difficulty he has in breeding these terriers is to keep them small enough. In the show ring the only way would be for the club to make a hard and fast rule as to weight, and put each dog in the scale before awarding it a prize or a card of honour.

Another matter to guard against is the production of an inordinately long body and crooked fore legs. Now, it is all very well for Scotsmen to say that their terrier should have crooked fore legs, but why should he have them? There is no reason in the world why such a pretty little dog ought to be malformed, and crooked fore legs are a malformation. Until recently no trouble had been taken to have them as straight as they might be, and so the crooked legs cropped up, as they always have done and always will do with long heavy bodies to support-bodies indeed quite out of proportion to the limbs.

A well-known scientist at the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, on being asked his opinion as to the crooked legs now found on many varieties of the dog, said "the outward curve of the fore limbs of the dachshund (and I suppose

of the Scottish terrier, although I do not know them so well) is an inherited deformity unlike anything in nature."

Mr. H. J. Ludlow, one of our oldest admirers of the variety, is likewise of my opinion as to the deformity of the crooked legs, and, in allusion to the above, says this statement from South Kensington is more of an argument in favour of straight fore legs in a Scottish terrier than all the asseverations that have been made by breeders of dogs crooked fronted, that a straight front means ruination. "I take it that if Nature thought bent fore legs were a necessary formation for animals that depend upon burrowing for their safety, nay, for their very existence, she would have produced the requisite curve in at least some of them. I am satisfied to have Nature for my guide in breeding, and so long as I produce terriers that have to follow and do to death these straight-legged diggers, I shall be content with the spades that I find she has supplied her creatures with rather than run after the 'inherited deformities that some prejudiced persons go rabid over. Looking at the question from a show point of view, there can be no doubt that a terrier with straight fore legs is a far more taking animal than one with crooked limbs, and, if for that reason alone, Scottish terriers. are, sooner or later, bound to be bred with fronts

as straight as those of the animals they are taught to look upon as their hereditary foes."

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We do not want the Scottish terrier as unwieldy as the Dandie Dinmont or as the dachshund. more active animal than either is required-one that can climb over rocks both above and below ground, and follow hounds in his kind of fashion. We want him an active, symmetrical little dog, on short legs, with a deep chest, not too long in body-in fact, just such an animal as is produced on another page. Mr. Wardle has drawn me two Scottish terriers which, to my mind, in make, shape, character, length of head, &c., are perfection.

There has of late been a tendency to give prizes to dogs with unusually long and narrow heads. Now this is again wrong, for with undue length of head or face, the character of the dog is lost quite as much, even more than it would be were the head short and round and of the bull terrier type. Craze for long heads has done harm to the modern fox terrier, and I think no one will require attention drawn to the injury the collie has sustained by the introduction of long heads, which are quite foreign to the breed.

That I do not not stand quite alone in my opinion as to the size and weight of the Scottish terrier will be inferred from the following description, which Mr.

Thomson Gray gives in " Dogs of Scotland": "The greatest difficulty is to get straight legs and ears tight up. My idea of a first-class specimen is a very game, hardy-looking terrier, stoutly built, with great bone and substance; deep in chest and back rib, straight back, powerful quarters, on short muscular legs, and exhibiting in a marked degree a great combination of strength and activity. In several terriers shown the body is too long. This I consider a grave fault, and by no means to be encouraged. Terriers built on such lines are very active in their movements, and for going a distance or taking a standing leap I do not believe there is any short-legged breed of terrier can equal them.

"The coat should be in. long, thick, dense, lying close, and very hard, with plenty of soft undercoat; tail straight, carried well up, well covered with hair, but not bushy. The ears should be as small and as sharp pointed as possible, well carried forward, and giving the dog a "varmint" appearance. The skull should not be too narrow, being in proportion to the terribly powerful jaw, but must be narrow between the ears, these being carried well If carried sluggishly they spoil the appearance of the dog's head. The eyes should be small and deep-set, muzzle long and tapering, and, as already

up.