Forming a Kennel. 79 



his consort, and the foundation was laid of a strain which, 

 I believe, if it had been properly and judiciously kept up to 

 the present day, would have been equal to the best. After 

 three generations I found that my canine family bred fairly 

 truly ; prick ears were absent, and any puppy I cared to 

 sell, easily realised two or three guineas at least, and when 

 grown up would turn out by no means unpresentable. 



Some crosses I tried were worse than useless ; thus with 

 the Foiler blood, with Rivet, who was by Gadfly from 

 Tricksey, and laying claim to a pedigree quite as long as 

 the haughty haberdasher does when he retires from business 

 and becomes a county family celebrity ; and with a dog 

 named Nugget, brindle marked and the facsimile of Tyke. 

 Dew claws " doubly distilled," brindle marks, upon other- 

 wise ugly creatures were produced from them, until I came 

 to the conclusion that to breed fox terriers with any 

 certainty you must have blood thoroughly reliable. I 

 gave a heavily-marked puppy away which had been 

 produced from another cross I obtained by the purchase 

 of Mac II., for his dam, Venom, I had always admired, 

 indeed, I almost purchased her from her breeder, Mr. F. 

 Chaplin, so long ago as 1869. 



About this time George Dickenson, who came from 

 Northumberland, as the head gamekeeper at Levens Hall, 

 Westmorland, had sent down to him a bitch from the Tyne- 

 dale, the lemon-marked terrier already described, which he 

 put to the dark coloured puppy mentioned above, bred from 

 Crack and Mabel, a daughter of Old Riot. A pup resulted, 

 which was sold when a month old for half a crown ! This 

 youngster blossomed into Nellie, as good a bitch as ever 

 ran on four legs, though a big one for modern fancy, and 

 the dam of Nimrod (undoubtedly the best puppy of his 



