232 THE DOGS OF THE BEITISH ISLANDS. 



THE SCOTCH TEEEIEE, 



A small rough terrier tinder the above name has for many years been known 

 in '. England, and accepted by the inhabitants of that country as identical with the 

 true breed as recognised in Scotland. Within the last few years, however, our 

 northern fellow-countrymen have come forward and repudiated him, alleging that 

 he is not the genuine article ; and in their Scottish dog shows they have produced 

 specimens of what they consider the pure breed, including the originals of the 

 engraving which accompanies this article. 



On comparing these dogs with Mr. Radclyffe's Eough (one of the group 

 of terriers in the frontispiece of Book III.), it will be seen that they closely 

 resemble him ; and very probably Mr. Eadclyffe obtained his breed from the north, 

 as it was one not generally met with in Wales, where that gentleman lived. In 

 any case, however, it is admitted that the Scotch dog as described below, with the 

 sanction of nearly every well-known breeder of the present day, is of great antiquity, 

 and it must not be confounded with the over-sized, long-backed dogs with large 

 and heavily -feathered ears, whose traces of Skye ancestry are evident to those who 

 understand the two breeds from which they spring. In fact, it is in the ears that 

 one of the chief characteristics of the Scotch terrier lies, for all unite in agreeing 

 that they should be small, and covered with a velvety coat not large, and fringed 

 with hair like a prick-haired Skye terrier. As regards the carriage of the ear, the 

 opinions of those best qualified to judge are a little divided between the merits of 

 a perfectly erect and half -drop ear ; but all unite in their condemnation of a 

 perfectly drop, button, or fox-terrier ear. As to the half -drop ear,- which stands 

 erect, but falls over at the tip, half covering the orifice, a large, very large, 

 majority of modern breeders agree in preferring the small, erect, sharp-pointed 

 one ; though all would probably hesitate to pass over a really good terrier who had 

 half -prick ears. Another great feature in the Scotch terrier is his coat, which should 

 be intensely hard and wiry, and not too long, and is well described in the appended 

 scale of points, which bears the signatures of nearly all the leading breeders. 



As a dead- game animal, the Scotch terrier is not to be surpassed by any 

 breed except bulls or bull terriers, but the courage of the latter dogs is so 

 exceptional that it is no disrespect to any other dog to place them for pluck in a 

 class by themselves, and, pound for pound, there is no dog, but a bull terrier, who 

 can beat the hard-haired Scotchman by far. Still, he has a natural advantage over 

 the bull terrier, for his hard coat and thickly padded feet enable him to go 

 through whins and over rocky places where the other would be useless, and he is 

 far more easy to control, though naturally of a rather pugnacious disposition. 

 His intelligence and love of home, his pluck, docility, and affection for his master, 

 should make Scottie a favourite with all who want a varmint dog ; and nobody 

 who once gets a good one, of the right style and stamp, will care to let him go. 



The dogs selected for illustration are Miss Mary Laing's Foxie, by Sharp 

 Fan, bred by Mr. John L. GTrainger, of Aberdeen ; and Mr. J. A. Adamson's Eoger 

 Eough, by Fury Flo, by Mr. Cattanack's Don Mr. J. L. Graiuger's Nelly. This 



