154 The Fox Terrier. 



compared to that of a full-grown vixen fox. ' I seldom or 

 ever see a real fox terrier nowadays/ said Russell 

 recently to a friend who was inspecting a dog show 

 containing a hundred and fifty entries under that denomi- 

 nation ; ' they have so intermingled strange blood with the 

 real article, that if he were not informed, it would puzzle 

 Professor Bell himself to discover what race the so-called 

 fox terrier belongs to.' ' 



A most ridiculous description of how the modern fox 

 terrier has been bred from the Italian greyhound, beagle, 

 and smooth-coated terrier or bulldog cross follows, and of 

 the blood of the latter Russell is said to have spoken in 

 high terms of praise, and his opinion is at any rate worth 

 having in this matter. 



The author of the memoir continues : " The bulldog 

 blood thus infused imparts courage, it is true, to the so- 

 called terrier ; he is matchless at killing any number of rats 

 in a given time, will fight any dog of his weight in a 

 Westminster pit, draw a badger heavier than himself out 

 of his long box, and turn up a torn cat possessed even 

 of ten lives before poor pussy can utter a wail. But the 

 ferocity of that blood is in reality ill-suited, nay, is fatal, to 

 foxhunting purposes, for a terrier that goes to ground and 

 fastens on his fox, as one so bred will do, is far more likely 

 to spoil sport than promote it ; he goes in to kill, not to 

 bolt the object of his attack. 



11 Besides, such animals, if more than one slip into a 

 fox earth, are too apt to forget the game and fight each 

 other, the death of one being occasionally the result 

 of such encounters. Hence, Russell may well have been 

 proud of the pure pedigree he had so long possessed, 

 and so carefully watched over. Tartars they were, 



