176 The Fox Terrier. 



his own hole and patiently awaits the appearance of his 

 rodent. From the work I saw not long ago, I came to the 

 conclusion that, in addition to -being "game/' these short- 

 legged, smart little wire-hairs were exceedingly sagacious 

 and easily kept under command — the latter about as 

 valuable a commodity as the former. 



Mr. Cowley, who usually keeps from four to six couples 

 of fully-grown terriers in his kennels, says some of them 

 are so game when underground that they receive a 

 Greater amount of punishment from a wild badger than 

 would a less hard-fighting dog. Mr. Cowley obtained his 

 first dog from Patrick, stud groom to the Old Surrey Fox- 

 hounds, a wire-haired bitch which showed a little of the 

 bulldog about her face and eyes. She was bred to a son 

 of the whilom smooth-coated notability Tyrant ; both were 

 very game. Then puppies from this cross were put to a 

 cross-bred bitch called Sting, which came out of Cornwall ; 

 she was particularly useful in every way, and directly 

 from her are descended most of the present inmates of the 

 kennels at Callipers. From time to time fresh blood has, 

 however, been introduced from the hardiest strains of the 

 modern show dog, pains always being taken to select the 

 short-legged, low-set terriers, which are considered by Mr. 

 Cowley to be the best for his purpose, for work under- 

 ground, where he believes long legs are actually in the 

 way. At any rate, this is his opinion. I, however, consider 

 that in a mountainous district, where the earths are exten- 

 sive and amongst the rocks, a rather long-legged dog is 

 better than a short-legged one, as the former can scramble 

 over the boulders better than the latter, and is generally 

 more active. However, Mr. Cowley proceeds to say that 

 in selecting his puppies he prefers the shorter-legged ones, 



