CHAPTER XI.

THE SCOTTISH TERRIER.

FROM all I have been told, and from what I have read, I believe that this little dog is the oldest variety of the canine race indigenous to North Britain, although but a comparatively recent introduction across the border and into fashionable society, at any rate under his present name. For generations he had been popular in the Highlands, where, strangely enough, he was known as the Skye terrier, although he is so different from the long-coated, unsporting-like looking creature with which that name is now associated. Even Hugh Dalziel, in the first edition of his "British Dogs," published so recently as 1881, gives an excellent illustration of the Scotch terrier which he calls a Skye terrier. I have seen an engraving of a picture. painted at the close of 1700 in which there is a capital representation of a Scottish terrier, one quite of the modern type. A correspondent writing to the Field during the great canine controversy

twenty-five years ago, claimed this as a prick-eared Dandie Dinmont, which I need scarcely say it is nothing of the kind.

Our little friend has, perhaps, been rather unfortunate so far as nomenclature is concerned, for, after being called a Skye terrier, he became known as the Scotch terrier, the Scots terrier, and the Highland terrier; then others dubbed him the Cairn terrier and the Die Hard, whilst another move was made to give him the distinguishing appellation of the Aberdeen terrier, the latter remaining with him to such an extent that many persons are fain to believe it a distinct variety. However, it is nothing of the kind, and a well-known and popular judge of the dog, on being asked the question as to the difference between an "Aberdeen" and Scottish terrier, said that he had come to the conclusion that whenever anyone had a bad specimen of the latter he called it an "Aberdeen" terrier! Now, however, this little dog has been thoroughly wound up, and, I suppose to suit those persons of teetotal proclivities who connected the word "Scotch" with the national liquor called whiskey, has developed into the "Scottish" terrier; as such he is known in the Stud Books, although when first appearing therein in 1886 and several succeeding years he was classified as the Scotch or broken-haired terrier,

and it was not until 1892 he duly appeared in the Stud Book under the nomenclature by which he is now known, and he is acknowledged as the Scottish terrier by the leading Scotch, or Scottish, authorities on the variety. Well, he is a game, smart, perky little fellow, and I do not think that his general excellence and desirability as a companion are likely to suffer from the evolutions his name has undergone. Years ago, before dog shows were invented, any cross-bred creature was called a Scotch terrier, especially if he appeared to stand rather higher on the legs than the ordinary terrier; if he were on short legs he was an "otter" terrier.

In an old "Sportsman," a three-halfpenny magazine published in 1833, there is a wood engraving, by no means a bad one, of "The Scotch terrier." This is a big, leggy, cut-eared dog with a docked tail, evidently hard in coat, and very game looking; were such a dog to be shown to-day he would be most likely to take a prize in the Irish terrier classes. The letterpress description does not, however, tally with the picture, for after saying that the Scotch terrier is purest in point of breed, it proceeds to state that "the Scotch terrier is generally low in stature, seldom more than 12in. or 14in. in. height, with a strong muscular body and stout legs; his ears small and half pricked; his head is rather

large in proportion to the size of his body, and his muzzle is considerably pointed. His scent is extremely acute, so that he can trace the footsteps of other animals with certainty; he is generally of a sand colour or black, dogs of this colour being certainly the most hardy and most to be depended upon. When white or pied, it is a sure mark of the impurity of the breed. The hair of this terrier is long, matted, and hard over almost every part of his body. His bite is extremely keen." This is not a bad description of a Scottish terrier of the present day, excepting that the matted coat is not required, that the semi-erect ears are not fashionable, and that a white specimen of pure blood crops up occasionally.

However, the same writer goes on to state that "there are three distinct varieties of the Scotch terrier, viz., the one above described; another about the same size as the former, but with hair much longer and more flowing, which gives the legs the appearance of being very short. This is the prevailing breed of the western isles of Scotland." The above description will apply fairly well to our modern Skye terrier. Then of the third variety, which may be taken to be the ordinary or mongrel variety, the writer in the "Sportsman" says "this is much larger than the former two, being generally

from 15in. to 18in. in height, with the hair very hard and wiry, and much shorter than that of the others. It is from this breed that the best bull terriers have been produced."

Whoever wrote the above I do not know, but the late Thomson Gray, in his "Dogs of Scotland," makes a similar quotation, which he says is from "Brown's Field Book," also published in 1833. However, I take the description to be interesting.

What to me appears to be the strangest part of all, is that even the Highland sportsmen of that time, and a little later, called their native terrier the Skye terrier. St. John in his " Highland Sports" (1846) alluded to some of his terriers as "Skyes," when they were undoubtedly our "die-hards." The long, silkycoated dogs of the western isles would have been no use to a sportsman such as he, and, although game enough in their way, they, the Skye terriers, did not possess the activity nor the power to tackle the wild cat, the marten, and other vermin found in the wilds of Sutherlandshire, where Charles St. John lived. Moreover, he also calls them " Highland terriers."

He says, "Why do Highland terriers so often run on three legs-particularly when bent on mischief? Is it to keep one in reserve in case of emergencies? I never had a Highland terrier who did not hop