504 -BRITISH DOGS 



known by a different one it would be absurd to think of changing it 

 now. The dog for which the name has lately been claimed, if not 

 the Highland Terrier itself, appears to be closely related to it, and 

 its being bred in Skye can change it into a Skye Terrier in no other 

 sense than it would change a Dandie Dinmont into a Skye Terrier 

 if it were bred there. 



The researches of naturalists prove that the covering of 

 animals adapts itself to the climate in which they are placed. Many 

 examples might be given to show that the coat Nature provides for 

 quadrupeds which have to endure cold and wet resembles that of 

 the Skye Terrier in having an outer covering of hair and an inner 

 coat of short wool. The Collie may be taken as one. There is no 

 dog in this country so much exposed during all weathers as the 

 Scotch Sheepdog, and his coat, like that of the Skye, is a combination 

 of hard and soft hair. However great the advantage of the outer 

 coat may be in throwing off the rain and sleet, unless the dog were 

 also provided with the inner coat, which not only excludes the wet, 

 but keeps him warm, he would be unable to withstand the rigorous 

 climate of the Scotch Highlands. The swine native to the northern 

 parts of Scotland were covered with short wool, and the sheep of 

 Shetland and Iceland had, in addition to their wool, an outer 

 covering of hair. 



How long Nature might take to change the coat of any 

 animal it is impossible to say, but in the case of the Skye Terrier 

 there was at least three centuries during which the process of 

 adaptation to climate might be going on. That it would require 

 such a length of time is not likely. The fact that the descendants 

 of dogs brought from Skye about forty years ago, aad which have 

 all along been carefully housed and fed, continue to exhibit the 

 same peculiarity of coat, shows that it does not change readily, and 

 that the adaptation must have been completed long before these 

 dogs left the island, else the hereditary influences could not be so 

 great. Martin, Pennant, Macculloch, and others, who wrote of the 

 Hebrides, inform us that the houses of the inhabitants were of the 

 rudest description in their time ; and where men are themselves 

 badly housed it is not likely they would pay much attention to the 

 kennels of their dogs. That Skyes were left a good deal to their 

 own resources at one period of their history some of their habits 

 sufficiently prove. 



A gentleman who wrote about forty years ago says of them : 

 ' The Terriers which I have had of this breed show some curious 

 habits, unlike most other dogs. I have observed that, when young, 

 they frequently make a kind of seat under a bush or hedge, where 

 they will sit for hours together, crouched like a wild animal. Un- 

 like most other dogs, too, they will eat (though not driven by hunger) 

 almost anything that is given them, such as raw eggs, the bones and 



