that the Scottish terrier, the subject of this sketch, the West High- 

 lander, the Skye, the Daiidie Dinmont, and the Cairn, would be 

 better adapted for entering narrow earths than the fox terrier, but 

 men of experience hold that it is not so much the length of leg 

 which determines a dog's capacity tor going to ground as his 

 general shape, and a good fox terrier proves in a practical manner, 

 to the refutation of logicians, that he is equal to the task. 



As time goes it is but a brief period since the Scottish terrier 

 emerged from the general ruck to take coherent shape, different 

 from his fellows, but, if modern ideas are correct, we may gather 

 some impression of what he was like by glancing at the Cairn 

 terriers the next occasion that serves, for these are believed by 

 many to be the aboriginal terrier whence the others have sprung. 

 Whether the Dandie Dinmont so originated or not I should not 

 like to hazard a conjecture without going further into the matter. 

 The name, of course, only came into being after Scott had written 

 " Guy Mannering," but the dog w^as there before the book, and 

 before Mr. James Davidson of Hindlee, who is persistently credited 

 with being the personage from whom Dinmont was drawn, although 

 Sir Walter has told us the character was a composite one. There 

 have been people to declare that the Dandie sprang from some Eastern 

 dogs imported into Scotland — an idea which should not be in- 

 herently improbable, especially when we know for a certainty that 

 the Egyptians some three thousand years ago had animals of this 



