206 THE DOGS OF THE BEITISH ISLANDS. 



Skye is smaller, and in other respects somewhat different from his congener on the 

 mainland, but not in any essential particular. In fact their pluck, colour, hair, 

 hardihood and general contour are, and have always been, much the same, the 

 difference of build merely arising from the desire to hare them of a suitable size 

 for hunting the otter, the only varmint of any consequence peculiar to Skye. Of 

 course the cairns and caverns of that rugged seaboard afford the animals the best 

 of shelter, while the inland fresh water lakes and streams, as well as the sea, yield 

 a never-failing supply of food. I am informed hunting and bolting the otter from 

 these fastnesses with a small pack of the right sort, such as those still to be seen at 

 Waternish, in all their pristine piuity, affords excellent sport. 



" But while this is the sort of work for which terriers are chiefly used on the 

 Island of Skye and throughout the Hebrides, it can be readily imagined, their duties 

 were very different on the mainland, where fox, foumart, marten, and wild cat, at 

 one time abounded, and hence the necessity for breeding the mainland terrier of 

 greater strength. It is but fair, however, to say these wiry dogs with their 

 punishing heads no matter whether small or large, prick or drop-eared could 

 hardly be excelled for pluck, nose, and endurance. They had courage to face 

 anything, and often paid dearly for their temerity, as the mutilated heads of the 

 heros I have frequently seen and heard of could testify. 



" As I have already stated, the Skye type is still to be found pure on the island 

 as well as occasionally on the mainland, but the latter, or larger-sized terrier, is 

 now very rare. And what it may be asked is the cause of their disappearance and 

 deterioration ? The question is easily answered, namely, to nothing but injudicious 

 crossing. After the cross with the poodle was bred-up, the " blue and tan beauties " 

 became greater favourites ; everybody praised them, and the hardy old-fashioned 

 terrier was in due time completely superseded. The new variety appears even to 

 have been credited with all the merits of the old, and, as a natural consequence, 

 connoisseurs, fanciers, ladies, and even gamekeepers went in for the fashionable and 

 pretty silky Skyes. So in this way the old breed, especially on the mainland, has 

 been reduced to a parcel of mongrels. 



"I have no doubt the circumstances of four-footed vermin having been 

 decimated by trapping was another reason for keepers being less careful to breed 

 courageous dogs. At any rate, such a thing as a good specimen, as I have said, is 

 hardly to be seen nowadays. After much inquiry I have only been able to discover 

 the whereabouts of a few which have any pretensions to the original mainland 

 breed P. K. L." 



THE DANDIE DINMONT TERRIER. 



No variety of the dog has caused such constantly recurring controversies as the 

 Dandie. In the early days of dog shows the classes allotted to it were very badly 

 filled, the breed not having largely penetrated into the south, to which, with the 

 exception of the Newcastle show, and those held at Leeds and Manchester in 1861, 

 canine exhibitions were for some years confined. In 1861 a class for Dandies was 



