WEST HIGHLAND WHITE TERRIER 249 



reduced him that he will probably be unable, if set free, to win 

 (as we say in Scotland) his way back to the open. 



" I remember a tale of one of my father's terriers who got so 

 lost. The keepers went daily to the cairn hoping against hope. 

 At last one day a pair of bright eyes were seen at the bottom 

 of a hole. They did not disappear when the dog's name was 

 called. A brilliant idea seized one of the keepers. The 

 dog evidently could not get up, so a rabbit skin was folded 

 into a small parcel round a stone and let down by a string. 

 The dog at once seized the situation and the skin held on, 

 was drawn up, and fainted on reaching the mouth of the hole. 

 He was carried home tenderly and nursed ; he recovered." 



Referring to the characteristics of this terrier, Colonel 

 Malcolm continues : " Attention to breeding as to colour has 

 undoubtedly increased the whiteness, but, other points being 

 good, a dog of the West Highland White Terrier breed is not 

 to be rejected if he shows his descent by a slight degree of 

 pale red or yellow on his back or his ears. I know an old 

 Argyllshire family who consider that to improve their terriers 

 they ought all to have browny yellow ears. Neither again, 

 except for the show bench, is there the slightest objection to 

 half drop ears i.e., the points of one or both ears just falling 

 over. 



" Unfortunately, the show bench has a great tendency to 

 spoil all breeds from too much attention being given to what is 

 evident and ears are grand things for judges to pin their 

 faith to ; also, they greatly admire a fine long face and what 

 is called but wrongly called a strong jaw, meaning by that 

 an ugly, heavy face. I have often pointed out that the tiger, 

 the cat, the otter, all animals remarkable for their strength 

 of jaw, have exceedingly short faces, but their bite is cruelly 

 hard. And what, again, could be daintier than the face of a 

 fox? 



" The terrier of the West Highlands of Scotland has come 

 down to the present day, built on what I may perhaps call the 

 fox lines, and it is a type evolved by work hard and deadly 



