The Irish Wolfhound, 275 



these skulls, when carefully measured and compared 

 with others of living dogs, deerhounds, wolfhounds, 

 and greyhounds, could not have been possessed 

 by animals more than 29 inches high at the 

 shoulders. 



However, it is not my province here to say what 

 kind of an animal the historical Irish deerhound was, 

 whether there were tw^o, three, or four varieties, or 

 whether any dog that would tackle and hunt a wolf 

 was from the moment he did so called a w^olf- 

 hound. This would only be similar to that which 

 occurs in our own days ; for have we not the 

 ordinary foxhound called a staghound or a buck- 

 hound w^hen he is entered to hunt the deer ? 



Mr. G. W. Hickman, of Birmingham, has written 

 most exhaustively and carefully on the subject on 

 one side; so have Mr. H. Richardson, Captain G. A. 

 Graham, Mr. R. D. O'Brien, Limerick, and others 

 on another side. I have to deal with '' Modern 

 Dogs/' and so the wolfhound, as he is now resus- 

 citated, must be described by me. There is no 

 doubt that by careful crossing between certain dogs 

 obtained from Ireland about 1841 with the deer- 

 hound and the Great Dane, an animial of a certain 

 distinctive type has been obtained, which, in its 

 turn, breeds perhaps quite as truly, up to a certain 

 standard, as most other canine varieties. Captain 



T 2 



