172 SCOTTISH GREYHOUND. 



Blucher (black and smooth), out of Sir William 

 Maxwell of Calderwood's Tickler (white and rough). 

 This pedigree runs counter to many of the pet theories 

 of breeding, which would seem to be the mere " idols 

 of the kennel," as Lord Bacon would have styled 

 them, rather than the conclusions of reason or the 

 result of experiments. Bred from first cousins, and 

 sprung from three successive crosses betwixt the 

 smooth and the rough, Gilbertfield himself rough, 

 is a great public winner, notwithstanding it is said 

 that breeding-in destroys spirit, and that every cross 

 after the first, betwixt the smooth and rough, more 

 and more banishes the good qualities of the grey- 

 hound. Opinion, or rather caprice, even among 

 those friendly to one cross with the rough, is diverse 

 as to which parent should be rough. It so happens 

 in this pedigree that the dams were the rough. But 

 this cannot be held to establish much, when it is 

 remembered that Gilbertfield's own progeny out of 

 a smooth bitch (Black-Eyed Susan) have distin- 

 guished themselves more than any other puppies of 

 ■ this season, part of which are thoroughly smooth, . 

 and part thoroughly rough. The running of him 

 and his lurcher race equally confute two opposite 

 sayings ; the one, that rough dogs are not fast, but 

 last long — the other, that they can get out of the 

 slips, but want bottom. 1st, Lord Eglinton's Major 

 is the only dog he meets which makes Gilbertfield 

 look not singularly fast up to his hare. 2d, The 

 race with Dusty Miller, on the last day of the Gold 

 Cup running, put an end to all scepticism a,s to 



