264 DAYS OF DEER-STALKING. 



the improvement in agriculture in England being more 

 rapid than in the sister kingdoms, the diminution of deer 

 and wolves was proportionally great. The deerhound, con- 

 sequently, in that country, degenerated from want of 

 attention to its peculiar characteristics, and gradually 

 merged into the greyhound of the present day. 



In Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, red deer continued to 

 he the objects of the chase till a much later period than in 

 England ; and as from the rugged and uncultivated state 

 of these countries the game could only be followed on foot, 

 it was necessary to use that species of dog which would 

 enable the sportsman to view and enjoy the chase. 



At an early period, the name by which these dogs were 

 known in these countries was the same, viz., the Celtic one 

 of Miol chil, which signifies a dog for the pursuit of wild 

 animals, though this term is now applied generally to all 

 clogs of the greyhound species.* The following description 

 of the miol-chu has been handed down for generations, and 

 is quite as minute, and at least as old, as the well known 

 one of the book of St. Alban's : 



" Sud mar thaghadh Fionn a chu 

 Suil mar airneag, cluas mar dhuileig, 

 Uchd mar ghearran, speir mar clioran, 

 Meadh' leathan, an cliabh leabhar, 

 'San t-alt cuil fad bho'n cheann ; " 



which may be translated thus : 



An eye of sloe, with ear not low, 

 With horse's breast, with depth of chest, 

 With breadth of loin, and curve in groin, 

 And nape set far behind the head : 

 Such were the dogs that Fingal bred. 



Gesner, in his history of quadrupeds, published in 1560, 

 gives drawings of three species of Scottish dogs, which, he 

 informs us, were furnished him lay Henry St. Clair. dean of 

 Glasgow. 



These drawings are said to represent the three different 



* I am informed from Scotland, that a tradition still prevails among the 

 Highlanders, of a much larger species of deer than the present having 

 formerly existed in their hills, which they called " miol." (qu. elk) W.S. 



