262 DAYS OF DEER-STALKING. 



Nemesianus gives the following description of these 

 dogs : 



" Sit cruribus altis, 



Sit rigidis, multamque gerat sub pectore lato 

 Costarum sub fine decenter prona carinam 

 Quae sensim rursus sicca se colligat alvo, 

 Eenibus ampla satis validis, deductaque coxas, 

 Cuique nimis molles fluitent in cursibus aures." 



And again he says, 



" Divisa Britannia mittit 

 Veloces, nostrique orbis venatibus aptos." 



From the same authorities we learn that the mastiffs of 

 England were highly prized by the Roman emperors, and 

 were used by them for the combats of the amphitheatre. 



It also appears from Symmachus, that in the ourth 

 century a number of dogs of a great size were sent n iron 

 cages from Ireland to Rome, which were probably used for 

 the same purposes; and as the mastiff was purely an English 

 dog, it is not improbable that the dogs so sent were grey- 

 hounds, particularly as we learn, from the authority of 

 Evelyn and others, that the Irish wolf dog was used for the 

 fights of the bear-garden. 



How and when this species of dog came to be denominated 

 greyhound is a point on which naturalists are not agreed. 

 Some derive the appellation grey from Graecus, whilst 

 others, as Jn. Caius, derive it from gret, or great. Without 

 pretending to determine this point, it may be suggested, as 

 not improbable, that the name is derived from the colour 

 (which is still the prevailing one of these dogs in the remote 

 districts of Scotland), particularly as we find them described 

 as Cu lia, or grey dog. 



Whatever may have been the origin of the name, there 

 is little doubt as to. the antiquity of a species of dog in this 

 country bearing a great resemblance in many points to the 

 greyhound of the present day, and passing under that name, 

 though evidently a larger, nobler, and more courageous 

 animal. 



Among the oldest Scotch authorities are some sculptured 

 .stones in the churchyard of Meigle, a village of Perthshire. 

 These stones represent in relief the figures of several dogs, 



