The Skye Terrier. 349 



length of coat, the facts are dead against them, as anyone may see who 

 will examine our best prize Skye terriers at the London, Edinburgh, or 

 other first-class shows ; and their assertions respecting the coat are 

 refuted by Mr. Minn, who brings forward the writings of long established 

 authorities in support of his opinions. Dr. Caius wrote his book long 

 before the Spanish Armada was thought of, and since that lately most 

 rare work has been reproduced by the publishers of this book at a cheap 

 rate, it is within the reach of all to consult for themselves.* 



I cannot help thinking that if the authors of the "manifesto" were 

 to give up fighting about a name, seeing that " Skye terrier" is but a 

 modern one after all, and establish classes for their hard short-haired 

 working terriers under the name of Highland terriers, they would be 

 doing practical good, instead of which such constant reiterations in praise 

 of a certain strain looks more like an advertisement than having the 

 good of the breed at heart. 



Mr. John Flinn says : " Early writers on natural history have not left 

 sufficient material to enable us to arrive at the origin of the different 

 breeds of terriers native to this country, consequently, we are left to 

 conjecture what it may have been, and this is all the more unsatisfactory 

 when we consider, as Darwin says, that ' a breed, like a dialect of a 

 language, can hardly be said to have a definite origin.' Some theorists 

 assert that the Skye terrier and the Dandie Dinmont are both descended 

 from the original Scotch terrier ; but as the first-named appears to have 

 existed as a distinct breed as early as there is any mention of the Scotch 

 terrier, it would be difficult to prove this assertion. The first mention 

 made of the Scotch terrier is by the Bishop of Ross, who wrote in the 

 latter half of the sixteenth century, but his description is too meagre to 

 furnish data on which to base any argument as to its affinity to the other 

 breeds. He says, ' There is also another kind of scenting dog of low 

 height, indeed, but of bulkier body, which, creeping into subterraneous 

 burrows, routs out foxes, badgers, martens, and wild-cats from their 

 lurking-places and dens. Then if he at any time finds the passage too 



* Of Englishe Dpjrges : The diversities, the names, the natures, and the properties. A 

 Short Trentise written in latine by Johannes Caius of late memorie. Doctor of Phisicke 

 in the Uniuersitie of Cambridge. And newly drawne into Englishe by Abraham Fleming, 

 Student. Natura etiam in brutis vim ostendit swam. Seene and allowed. Imprinted at 

 London by Rychard Johnes, and are to be solde ouer against 8. Sepulchres Church 

 without Newgate. 1576. Reprinted verbatim, 1880. London: "The Bazaar" Office, 

 170, Strand. 



