1924. ScHARFF — On the Breeds of Dogs peculiar to Ireland. 81 



wild dog-like creature which inhabited Ireland when this 

 country received its first human inhabitants. It is quite 

 possible that it interbred with the large dog that no doubt 

 accompanied these primitive hunters. All ancient his- 

 torical references point to the Irish as being devoted to 

 hunting and fighting. The early manuscripts abound in 

 allusions to dogs. And, as Father Hogan tells us, all the 

 descriptions of hunting dogs — both those in verse and those 

 m prose — are carefully distinguished into two kinds. The 

 one was employed in starting the game. It evidently hunted 

 chiefly by scent, and was known in Irish by the name of 

 gadhar (pronounced guyer) ^ It is generally rendered as 

 " Beagle " in the translation. But this word having for cen- 

 turies past been apphcable only to a diminutive hound used 

 for small game, one would imagine that the ancient Irish 

 gadhar was a larger hound, something of the nature of a 

 Foxhound or even Staghound. This matter will be further 

 discussed in dealing with the Kerry Beagle. While the 

 gadhar was engaged in dislodging the quarry from its 

 covert, the great hound was held in leash in his master's 

 hand. The hunters sat on an elevated spot keenly watching 

 the result of the gadhar s efforts. As soon as the game was 

 turned out into the open, the larger hounds called cu, 

 WTre slipped to bring it down. The remains of a hound 

 from a Bronze Age deposit were discovered in a crannog 

 at Lough Gur in County Limerick. It is now in the 

 National Museum in Dubhn, and was identified by Studer 

 as Canis familiaris intermedius }^ The skull of another 

 dog occurred in the crannog of Dunshaughlin in County 

 Meath. It had somewhat the shape of that of the Irish 

 Terrier. According to Studer it represents a rather primi- 

 tive form of the old Torfhund which is widely distributed 

 in the Swiss lake-dweUings. In ancient Ireland it may 

 have been kept as a house-dog, where its capability as a 

 vermin destroyer and its watchfulness would have been most 

 useful. It belongs to the group of Canis familiaris palustris, 

 which is the most ancient of European dogs. 



9 Hogan, E. : " The history of the Irish Wolf-dog." Dubhn, iSq;. 

 10 Studer, Th. : " Ueber Hunde aus den Crannoges von Irland." Mitteil. 

 d. Naturforsch. Gesellsch. in Bern, 1900. 



