Variety in Type. 105 



even in doggy matters it sometimes occurs that what is 

 " one man's meat is another man's poison." This was so 

 in our early days when there was, perhaps, quite as much 

 difference in type as there is at the present time. I have 

 drawn attention to the weedy, light boned, ill-tempered, 

 but gaudily coloured, black-and-tan headed Trimmer, yet 

 when he was winning all before him for Mr. Murchison 

 (who, by the way, had paid far into " three figures" for 

 the little dog) there were other terriers in the same 

 kennel which were as unlike the " champion" as possible, 

 and it is quite likely that their blood and breeding were 

 similarly diverse. 



Animals like Turco, Renard, and Vandal were all over- 

 sized, and not very far removed from bull terriers in 

 appearance. Still they were brought under certain judges 

 who considered them fox terriers pure and simple, and 

 awarded them honours as such. The gentlemen who 

 officiated in those days could easily enough be numbered 

 on the fingers of one hand, and the " specialist reporter" 

 was not so advanced and independent in his opinions as, 

 for the most part, he is to-day. A quarter of a century 

 ago all kinds of awards might be made and no one say 

 them nay, and perhaps the judges would write the reports 

 to the Field and other papers themselves, but without 

 appending their names thereto, as is the custom with those 

 who produce the critiques in the Kennel Gazette now. 



Perhaps, after all, there would be an unpleasant simi- 

 larity in the fox terrier if each animal were precisely the 

 same in type, character, and appearance as its neighbour. 

 In any case it would be somewhat monotonous for the 

 judge, who would thus have to decide between individuals 

 only so far as straight well-formed limbs, neatly dropping 



