THE SKYE TERRIER 503 



only influences likely to effect any change in the characteristics of 

 the dog would be food, climate, and selection, unless other dogs 

 were brought to the island. 



An incident did happen in 1588, as we are told on the 

 authority of the Rev. (now Mr.) J. Gumming Macdona, in Webb's 

 * Book on the Dog,' by which a foreign blood was introduced 

 amongst them. He informs us that the late Lady Macdonald, of 

 Armadale Castle, was possessed of an extraordinary handsome 

 strain of Skye Terrier, which was descended from a cross of some 

 Spanish white dogs that were wrecked on the island at the time 

 when the Spanish Armada lost so many ships on the western 

 coast. So far as this particular strain is concerned, great care 

 appears to have been taken to keep it pure and distinct from the 

 breed common in the island ; however, other dogs may have found 

 their way to Skye in a similar manner, although there is no record 

 of the fact. At the time when Professor Low wrote, the distinctive 

 features of the Skye Terrier were well marked. He says : ' The 

 Terriers of the western islands of Scotland have long, lank hair, 

 almost trailing to the ground.' There could not be a happier 

 description than this. There is no ambiguity about the length of 

 the coat, and the word ' lank ' conveys the idea that it lay straight 

 and free, and therefore could not be soft or silky in texture. The 

 coat Professor Low described so many years ago as a feature of the 

 Terriers of the western islands he does not call them Skyes, as 

 probably they were not generally known by that name then has 

 always been, and is still, considered the proper coat of the true 

 Skye Terrier. He also mentions a Terrier peculiar to the Central 

 Highlands, and describes it as rough, shaggy, and not unlike the 

 older Deerhounds in general form. Richardson likewise mentions 

 this dog, and says it is commonly called the Highland Terrier. A 

 gentleman of high standing in the medical profession in Edinburgh, 

 and whose name is well known in literature, informs me that he 

 remembers seeing Terriers in the island of Skye resembling 

 'miniature Deerhounds.' 



The fact that Terriers similar to those of the Central Highlands, 

 but probably with a slight admixture of Skye blood in them, were 

 also bred in the island of Mull, seems to have caused confusion in 

 the minds of a few people as to what really is a Skye Terrier. The 

 name Skye Terrier is of comparatively recent application, and it was 

 applied to the Terriers of the western islands of Scotland, which 

 were covered with long, lank hair, almost trailing to the ground. 

 Richardson describes the Skye as long in the body, low on the leg, 

 and covered with very long hair ; and he says the name was given 

 ' from its being found in greatest perfection in the western isles of 

 Scotland, and the island of Skye in particular.' Any other name 

 might have been given to this breed of Terrier, and had it been 



