THE BULL TEEEIEE. 229 



in his favour ; and his type has since then been installed as that which is to 

 be considered the proper one for the breed. Nothing is known of his pedigree, 

 and all the guesses made at his greyhound parentage are purely hypothetical. 

 He was, like all the "Madmen" of Mr. Hinks's breeding, a pure white; but 

 when put to an equally all-white bitch, one of the produce was the celebrated 

 "mark-eyed" dog Young Victor, who won nearly every prize open to him 

 till his career was cut short by poison at the Hull Show of 1875. His 

 son Tarquin whose portrait is appended to this article, is, however, a worthy 

 representative of the breed. 



The bull terrier is still judged by the fighting standard that is to say, he must 

 have all the points, mental as well as bodily, which are necessary to the fighting dog. 

 If of pure bull parentage or nearly so, he is unfitted for the ofiice ; for, instead of 

 laying hold and shaking his adversary for a time with great force, and then changing 

 to a fresh place of attack, as the fighting dog should do, he keeps his hold tena- 

 ciously, and never changes it but on compulsion. The infusion of terrier, 

 greyhound, or foxhound, or whatever may be the cross, gives activity of body in 

 addition to the above mental peculiarity, and thus is created an animal calculated to 

 take his own part in any combat, whether with one of his own kind or with any of 

 our native larger vermin, or even with the smaller felidce of other lands. His temper 

 is sufficiently under control to prevent his intentionally injuring his master, under 

 the severest provocation, and he is admitted to be, of all dogs, the most efficient 

 protector against attack in proportion to his size and muscular powers. He is a 

 very cleanly animal in the house, and many years ago I had one which, being by 

 accident confined in my bedroom, surreptitiously for four days, under the care of a 

 person who fed him, but neglected to let him out as directed, for fear of discovery, 

 never once relieved himself of any of his secretions, by which he very nearly lost his 

 life. Show dogs of this breed accustomed to the house, if left on their benches, are 

 peculiarly liable to injury from this cause, which is indeed a fertile source of 

 mischief to all dogs, and the higher their courage the worse for their health. The 

 bull terrier is a capital vermin dog, and, if small enough, " goes to ground " well at 

 fox or badger ; but is too severe in his attack, his tendency being to kill rather than 

 bolt his fox. For this reason the slightest visible cross of .bull with the fox terrier 

 is objected to ; but for all vermin work above ground the bull terrier of the present 

 day is admirably suited. 



Nothing reliable is known of the pedigrees of any of the best specimens of the 

 bull terrier in these days ; and in former years, while the dog pits of Birmingham, 

 Walsall, Stafford, Westminster, &c., still existed, the best strains were equally 

 without recognised paternity beyond the first generation, breeders selecting a well- 

 known fighting dog to mate with an equally famous bitch, whose prowess had been 

 proved on more than one occasion. It is true that certain strains were famous 

 among the " fancy ; " but they seldom existed long, subsequent victories bringing 

 out fresh favourites, and these being again displaced by the fortune of war, as 

 fickle in the pit as elsewhere. At present breeders go back to Old Victor as 

 the origin of all the best dogs, and improving upon Mr. Hinks's strain which 



