214 THE DOGS OF THE BEITISH ISLANDS. 



with fine eyes, small ears, and straight legs, until about fifteen years since ; but the 

 cross breed then came to me, and I have not been able to get back to what I consider 

 the true one. I have seen partridges as well as ground game shot to a little pepper 

 of the old sort ; he pointed after a fashion, holding up his hind leg instead of a fore 

 one. He was obedient to signs, and a wounded hare had little chance of escaping 

 from him. He had a curious way of taking a wounded hare by the neck, and then 

 lying on his breast close to the ground, and so avoiding the kicks of its hind feet. 

 I suppose that was a natural habit in the breed, as I have seen a young Dandie treat 

 the first cat he encountered in the same way holding it by the neck and never 

 rising off the ground so long as the cat lived. I think some of the prize dogs at a 

 year old would find ' a cat on rabbits fed ' as much as they were able for. The old 

 kind had fine tempers, not much given to fight ; but I have had two dogs killed stone 

 dead, in a private battle, although they had never been allowed to fight when there 

 was anyone at hand to separate them. Having been so long in possession of 

 Dandies, I was glad to see an accurate description of the old race, which to my mind 

 were nicer dogs than what we see in the present long-eared, bent-legged prize ones. 

 Indeed, the first time I saw them at a dog show the thought immediately occurred 

 to me that these are not Dandies." 



"ALEX. J. ADIE." 

 " Kockville, Linlithgow." 



THE BEDLINGTON TEKRIER. 



BY HUGH DALZIEL. 



Of all the varieties of terriers, not one owes more to dog shows than the 

 Bedlington. Until these institutions came in vogue they were almost unknown out 

 of their own district, having the strictly local habitation which their name imports ; 

 indeed, so much was this the case that, when first brought before the general public, 

 and their merits and claims to long descent descanted on by some of their admirers 

 in The Field eight or nine years ago, there were not a few to question their good 

 qualities, and to deny them the right to be considered a distinct variety. Now no 

 one doubts that they possess characteristics clearly distinguishing them from every 

 other variety of terrier ; nor would anyone, I imagine, now be 'rash enough to assert 

 that a Bedlington could be produced in a few years by crossing certain other 

 varieties, as was boldly stated in the discussion on the breed in The Field in 1869. 

 The Bedlingtons, however originally produced, exhibit pronounced distinctive 

 features separating them from all other terriers ; and this is so thoroughly 

 recognised that separate classes are made for them at all our principal shows. 



The history of the breed, and the long pedigree claimed for them, are not 

 quite so clear, resting, as they do, to a great extent on traditional evidence, which 

 is never severely accurate in such matters. I have before me, by the kindness of 

 Major J. A. Cowen, the pedigree of his blue and tan dog Askim II., pupped in 1874, 

 which goes back to about 1792 ; the oldest named progenitors being A. Evan's 

 Vixen, by the Miller of Felton's dog, out of a bitch of Carr's, of Felton Hall. The 



