40 FIRST DIVISION OF THE 



THE IRISH WOLF-DOG. 



This animal is nearly extinct, or only to be met with at the mansions of 

 one or two persons by whom he is kept more for show than use, the wild 

 animals which he seemed powerful enough to conquer having long dis- 

 appeared from the kingdom. The beauty of his appearance and the an- 

 tiquity of his race are his only claims, as he disdains the chace of stag, fox, 

 or hare, although he is ever ready to protect the person and the property 

 of his master. His size is various, some having attained the height of 

 four feet, and Dr. Goldsmith states that he saw one as large as a yearling 

 calf. He is shaped like a greyhound, but stouter ; and the only dog which 

 the writer from whom this account is taken ever saw approaching to his 

 graceful figure, combining beauty with strength, is the large Spanish wolf- 

 dog : concerning which he adds, that, showing one of these Spanish dogs 

 to some friends, he leaped through a window into a cow-house, where a 

 valuable calf was lying, and seizing the terrified animal, killed it in an 

 instant ; some sheep having in the same way disappeared, he was given 

 away. The same writer says that his grandfather had an Irish wolf-dog 

 which saved his mother's life from a wolf as she was paying a visit at- 

 tended by this faithful follower. He rushed on his foe just when he was 

 about to make his spring, and after a fierce struggle laid him dead at his 

 mistress's feet. His name was Bran. a 



THE RUSSIAN GREYHOUND 



is principally distinguished by its dark-brown or iron-grey colour its 

 short semi-erect ears its thin lanky body long but muscular legs soft 

 thick hair, and the hair of its tail forming a spiral twist, or fan, (thence 

 called the fan-tailed dog,) and as he runs haying a very pleasing appear- 

 ance. He hunts by scent as well as by sight, and, therefore, small packs 

 of this kind are sometimes kept, against which the wolf, or even the bear, 

 would stand little chance. He is principally used for the chace of the deer 

 or the wolf, but occasionally follows the hare. The deer is the principal 

 object of pursuit, and for this he is far better adapted than to contend with 

 the ferocious wolf. His principal faults are want of activity and dexterity. 

 He is met with in most parts of Russia, where his breed is carefully pre- 

 served by the nobility, with whom coursing is a favourite diversion. 

 Some dogs of this breed were not long ago introduced into Ireland. 



THE GRECIAN GREYHOUND. 



The author is glad that he is enabled to present his readers with the 

 portrait of one now in the menagerie of the Zoological Society of London. 

 It is the dog whose image is occasionally sculptured on the friezes of some 

 of the ancient Grecian temples, and was doubtless a faithful portrait of 

 one of the dogs which Xenophon the Athenian valued, and was the com- 

 panion of the heroes of Greece in her ancient glory. 



Sporting Mag. 1837, p. 156. 



