THE YORKSHIRE TERRIER. 439 



heading; but to call them Scotch is quite a misnomer, the true Scotch Terrier 

 being a much rougher, shorter, and harder coated dog, of greater size and 

 hardiness, and altogether a rough-and-tumble vermin dog. . . . That the 

 Yorkshire Terrier should have been called Scotch by those who, although they 

 may have the credit of producing this dog, probably did not know of the 

 existence of the real Scotch Terrier as a breed, suggests that at least a Terrier 

 of Scotland has had something to do with his manufacture. Now, among 

 Terriers recognized as Scotch, if not now peculiar to the country, we have the 

 old hard, short coated Scotch Terrier par excellence ; the short-legged and 

 mixed-coated Dandie; the Skyes, with long, weasel-like bodies, and long, hard 

 coat ; and the perky little prick-eared, hard and short coated Abeidonian ; 

 and, in addition, the Glasgow or Paisley Skye, a more toyisli dog, shorter in 

 back, and comparatively soft and silky in coat, which it probably inherits 

 from a Maltese Terrier cross. My theory, then, respecting the origin of the 

 Yorkshire Terriers (and I admit it is only a theory, for the most diligent and 

 repeated inquiries on my part in all likely or promising quarters have failed 

 in elucidating reliable facts, and none, certainly, contradictory to my views) is 

 that the dog was what gardeners call "a sport " from some lucky combination 

 of one of the Scotch Terriers either the genuine Skye or Paisley Toy and one 

 of the old soft and longish coated black-and-tan English Terriers, at one time 

 common enough, and probably a dash of Maltese blood in it. 



Mr. G. H. Wilkinson says, in his article published in 

 the English Stock-Keeper in 1887 and we shall quote from 

 this quite extensively throughout this chapter, for the 

 reason that it contains some valuable information relating 

 to the breed that has not, we believe, appeared in book 

 form concerning the history as learned by him : 



In commencing an article on the Yorkshire Terrier, it is necessary to trace 

 back its origin as far as possible. With this object in view, I have been at 

 some trouble in looking up several old fanciers, one of whom, John Richard- 

 son, of Halifax, is now in his sixty-seventh year. And very interesting it 

 was to hear this aged man go back to the "good old days" of over half a 

 century ago. I regret, however, that, although we can find men who have 

 been in the fancy so long, the origin of the Yorkshire Terrier is somewhat 

 obscure. Fifty years ago, there was in Halifax, and the immediate neighbor- 

 hood, a type of dog called at that time (and even within these last twenty 

 years) a " Waterside Terrier; " a little game dog, varying in weight from six to 

 twenty pounds, mostly about ten pounds weight a dog resembling very much 

 the present Welsh and Airedale Terrier on a small scale. At this period, these 

 dogs were bred for the purpose of hunting and killing rats. They would go 

 into the river and work with a ferret, and were just in their element when put 

 into a rat-pit. An almost daily occurrence, at that time, was to back them to 

 kill a given number of rats in a given time. 



It seems almost a pity that such a breed should have become extinct. Mr. 



