THE FOX-TERRIER 439 



lence is judged from a performance in the course ; and how such 

 practical standard keeps a breed true to its original is seen in the 

 result, for, the animal pursued, and the laws and circumstances 

 regulating the course, having remained unchanged, the Greyhound 

 of to-day corresponds to the description written of him nearly 2,000 

 years ago. In competitive exhibitions the dogs are placed in order 

 of merit according to the opinions and judgment and, it may even 

 be, the prejudices of the individual judge. The wisdom, therefore, 

 of the Fox-terrier Club in setting up a standard by which varying 

 estimates of the merits of dogs may be dispassionately gauged is 

 apparent. 



The position of the Club, it may be taken, was that they accepted 

 the Fox-terrier inherited from their predecessors, in his general 

 characteristics, and framed a standard to which they wished him to 

 be bred, and which should ensure a greater degree of uniformity in 

 general appearance, including enhanced beauty and more style, as 

 modern taste recognises those qualities. 



Some years ago those two famous breeders Mr. F. Redmond 

 and Mr. A. H. Clarke competed against each other with a team 

 of half a dozen, submitting them to the judgment of Mr. J. A. Doyle, 

 who valued each dog's merits on the point system. The competition 

 did not deal with the general merits of the dogs, but only with 

 certain special points viz. neck, shoulders, and fore legs, which had 

 formed a subject of discussion. Whatever the result arrived at 

 in the particular case quoted, the practicability of judging dogs by 

 the point system is open to question ; indeed, the writer believes 

 it to-be quite unworkable. 



Breeders of Smooth Fox-terriers have been legion, and the 

 number of them in whose kennels have been produced specimens of 

 the very first order is so great that it may seem invidious to select 

 any for special mention. Making full allowance for the greater oppor- 

 tunities possessed by them to appear prominently in the list of 

 successful Fox-terrier breeders, it must still be conceded that their 

 dogs give a just claim to that position to the following, among 

 others that might be named : Messrs. T. Wootton, J. H. Murchison, 

 J. T. Carver, F. J. Astbury, S. Castle, F. Powell, L. P. C. Astley, 

 J. J. Pirn, F. Burbidge, T. Bassett, A. H. Clarke, J. B. Dale, J. A. 

 Doyle, the Hon. T. W. Fitzwilliam, Messrs. G. Raper, F. Redmond, 

 D. H. Owen, E. M. Southwell, C. E. Longmore, Captain Keene, 

 Messrs. Rawdon Lee, J. C. Tinne, Luke Turner, R. and C. G. Vicary, 

 Major How, the Rev. T. W. de Castro, the Rev. C. T. Fisher, the 

 Rev. T. O'Grady, Mr. C. Houlker, etc. 



The blood of the older champions is to be found now combined 

 in various degrees. The subject of pedigrees, however, is an ex- 

 ceedingly difficult one to deal with. It is to be feared that, respecting 

 some of the most noted " pillars of the stud " to appropriate a 



