344 THE MIOL Cllfr. 



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

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

 animals, though this term is now applied generally to all 

 dogs of the greyhound species. * The following descrip- 

 tion 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 choran, 

 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, and 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 by Henry St. Clair, Dean 

 of Glasgow. 



These drawings are said to represent the three different 

 species of dogs mentioned by Boece, in his History of 

 Scotland, published 1526, of which the deerhound is one. 

 This drawing, though a rudely executed woodcut, is full 

 of character, and coincides with the descriptions which 

 have reached us of this dog. 



* 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?) Author. 



