348 British Dogs. 



hence they have adopted the English popular fallacy with reference to this 

 breed, that it must have almost no legs, a caterpillar body, and a coat 

 which might be measured by the yard. The head of the show dog is 

 generally round or apple-shaped, with a great quantity of silky hair fall- 

 ing over and almost concealing his eyes, body exceedingly long, and a flag 

 as finely feathered as a setter's, which he sometimes carries on one side 

 (a la pug) or over his back, and he may be of any weight from 141b. 

 to 231b. 



"I may be told that lots of dogs, such as I have now described, are 

 bred at Portree, Paisley, Greenock, and Glasgow. This is unfortunately 

 too true, but they are nevertheless a cross-bred animal, and should be 

 placed in a class for ' fancy drop or prick-eared terriers.' The sooner 

 they are relegated to this class the better, and would very shortly be if 

 the judges were gentlemen who had a thorough knowledge of the valuable 

 Highland terrier. For hardiness, gameness, faithfulness, and attachment 

 to their masters no dog excels the genuine Skye, and for sagacity they 

 are equalled by none. An elegant writer as well as a distinguished 

 sportsman remarks, speaking of this breed, ' he is almost human in his 

 love, and more than human in his fidelity.' " 



I will now introduce to readers an article on the Skye terrier, written 

 by Mr. John Flinn, and with whose opinions I entirely concur. By 

 authoritative quotation Mr. Flinn shows conclusively that a long-haired 

 terrier was peculiar to the Northern Islands more than three centuries 

 ago written history when dealing with such matters must be allowed to 

 be more reliable than tradition. Mr. Murray and his confreres of the 

 " manifesto " go back sixty or ninty years to find a wrecked vessel landing 

 dogs on the coast of Skye to account for the long-haired terrier, whilst 

 others go back to the wreck of one of the ships of the Spanish Armada. 

 This hypothetical foreign cur is sometimes called a French poodle, some- 

 times called a Spanish poodle, sometimes a Russian poodle, and at other 

 times it is described as a Maltese. That a dog was so landed on the Isle 

 of Skye is highly probable, and that such a dog or dogs would be crossed 

 with the native dogs is also highly probable, but, admitting that to be so, 

 there is no proof brought forward that the prize winning dogs of to-day 

 are the descendants of the cross, which is what Mr. Murray and his friend 

 have tried hard, using clamour and assertion as a substitute for argu- 

 ment, to establish, and have utterly failed to do. In all points but 



