314 Modern Dogs. 



this purpose his primary qualifications are small 

 size, low set, great length of body, and exceptional 

 strength of head and fore quarters fitting him 

 to enter, to perform his task, and to extricate 

 himself where others differently formed would fail. 

 His coat, too, of hard, lanky hair sufficiently long 

 (averaging 5^in.) to cover head, eyes, and body, but 

 not so long as to impede him in his work serves as 

 protection against weather and foes. While the 

 undercoat gives warmth, the overcoat serves like 

 the thatch of a cottage to carry off the rain ; and 

 I have seen the hair of the forehead torn, the flesh 

 lacerated, and the blood flowing over the face in 

 encounters with vermin on the Tweedside, when I 

 fully expected to find my dog blind, but I have 

 never seen the eyesight injured. 



" But, instead of a dog possessed of these qualifi- 

 cations, we often find on the show bench and in the 

 prize list a spurious counterfeit, large, leggy, and 

 short-bodied, with weak head, jaw, and chest, 

 and covered with an inordinate length of soft, 

 flowing hair. By such the typical Skye terrier is 

 largely displaced by many breeders and judges. 



" The explanation of this to a large extent is not 

 difficult. A number of years ago but still within 

 the memory of many living a fierce conflict raged 

 in England and in Scotland as to what constituted 



