THE IRISH TERRIER 469 



wiry jacket, hardy constitution, indomitable pluck, and fine stamina, 

 enable an Irish Terrier to work almost any other dog to a standstill, 

 and, what is more, when he sees the gun or the ferret-box the next 

 morning, he is ready and eager for the second edition. 



The writer once visited a farm by invitation for an hour's sport 

 killing rats. A friend was having a barley rick threshed, and when 

 the bottom, or bedding, was reached the rats tumbled out thick 

 and fast, and it was a pretty sight to see a brace cf Irish Terriers 

 and an old Sheepdog literally slaughter them. One of the Terriers 

 poked his head into the short straw and brushwood upon which 

 the rick had stood, and seemed to kill the rats two at a time. 

 The trio were not long in accounting for 137. An Irish Terrier 

 has such a punishing jaw, and puts so much dash into killing 

 rats, that one sometimes thinks that they are out of place, and 

 that such sport should be relegated to smaller breeds, for he not 

 only kills them but smashes them with the same apparent ease as 

 one could smash eggs with a mallet. 



Without question, rabbiting is the kind of sport that the Irish 

 Terrier excels at the right dog in the right place, so to speak. 

 A model Irish Terrier is a miniature Irish Wolfhound with a 

 yellow-red coat, and consequently, being built on these racy lines, 

 he is by nature specially adapted for rabbiting in every way. 



When ferreting a burrow, a well-trained Irish Terrier will sit 

 on the top, and he seems to know instinctively from which hole the 

 rabbit is likely to come, and if the man with the gun fails to 

 grass his bunny, the Irishman, at a given signal, is after him like 

 a shot from a gun, and if the rabbit has no cover inside of two 

 hundred yards, you may count him in your bag. The writer has 

 repeatedly seen a Terrier of this breed catch rabbits in this distance 

 on their own ground, and it is generally believed that a rabbit 

 when he gets out of his form runs as fast as a hare for the first 

 two hundred yards, and except the Bedlington Terrier no other 

 breed of Terrier can equal the Irish Terrier for speed. 



It is very regrettable that this good quality should be the reason 

 for the dog being used for rabbit-coursing, a pastime much in vogue. 

 No true sportsman would, however, care to be seen at one of these 

 exhibitions, which are as cruel as they are disgusting. A rabbit 

 is probably the most meek-hearted of any wild animal, and so 

 timid and frightened is it when turned down in a strange place 

 after spending a night in a sack or a box, or perhaps sent some 

 miles by train, that he reminds one of a frog when he sees a 

 snake after him. A Terrier weighing 14.15. can catch a turned- 

 down rabbit with ease ; but let that same dog turn one up from 

 his natural lair, and he simply would not see which way the 

 rabbit went. 



The Irish Terrier, too, has an excellent nose, and it is seldoni 



