8 THE SCOTTISH TERRIER. 



dog was the only type and original ' Scotch ' terrier, and so on. To the 

 uninitiated it was quite impossible, from the multitude of different 

 descriptions which were given, to say what a 'Scottish terrier' should 

 be. Some were described as • Scotch,' others as pure Skyes, and a third 

 as Aberdeen terriers. . . . 



" To the initiated, the whole matter was clear. The dog which the 

 Scottish writers were trying to get established as the Scottish was the 

 Highland or Cairn terrier, — the terrier of the Highlands of Scotland, — 

 known in some parts as the short-coated Skye, a sub-division of which 

 is the Aberdeen terrier. 



" For years previous to the commencement of the ' dispute ' in 

 question, we had these terriers from Mr. McDonald, Dunvegan, Skye, 

 and formed a high opinion of them. Our previous experience, how- 

 ever, would not allow us to call them the ^Scottish terrier, which, as 

 recognized in the Lowlands of Scotland, was a leggier dog, more 

 resembling the present type of Irish terrier. On this account, we 

 objected at first to the name Scottish terrier being applied to them ; 

 and it was only after we found that the race of terriers described by old 

 authors as the Scotch terrier was extinct i/i Scotland that we agreed to 

 the Highland or Cairn terrier appropriating the name, as being the 

 breed having the strongest claim to the title. 



" We, however, hold that the race of terriers known for many years 

 in the Lowlands of Scotland as the Scotch terrier is not extinct, but 

 exists under the cognomen of Lish terriers. ' Stonehenge ' was of the 

 same opinion ; for he refused at first to insert a description of these 

 (Irish) terriers in his book, ' The Dogs of the British Islands,' as he 

 believed they in no way differed from the old Scots terrier commonly 

 met with in England in the early part of the present century, and about 

 which no two seem to agree. 



" ' Stonehenge,' in his early works, describes the ' Scotch ' terrier as 

 closely resembling the English terrier in all but his coat, which is wiry 

 and rough; and hence he is sometimes called the wire-haired terrier, — 

 a name perhaps better suited to a dog which has long been naturalized 

 in England, and whose origin is obscure enough. 



