NATURAL HISTORY OF THE DOG. 



Sutherland chief, unwilling that either of them should be 

 killed called out, ' Let each of us take away his dog.' Fingal 

 objected to this; whereupon the Sutherland chief said, with a 

 taunt, that ' it was now evident that the Fingalians did not 

 possess a dog that could match with Phorp.' 



" Angered and mortified, Fingal immediately extended his 

 * venomous paw/ as it is called, (for the tradition represents him 

 as possessing supernatural power,) and with one hand he 

 seized Phorp by the neck, and with the other, which 

 a charmed and destructive one, he tore out the brave animal's 

 heart. This adventure occurred at a place near the Marc h, 

 between the parishes of Clyne and Kildonan, still called 

 'Leek na Con,' 'The stone of the dogs,' there having l><><-n 

 placed a large stone on the spot where they fought. The 

 ground over which Fingal and the Sutherland chief hunt' <i 

 that day is called ' Dirri-leck-Con.' Bran suffered so SOV.T.-. 

 ly in the fight that he died in Glen Loth before leaving the 

 forest, and was buried there. A huge cairn was heaped over 

 him, which still remains, and is known by the name of 'Cairn 

 Bran." 



In a work published at Belfast, in the year 1829, entitled 

 " The Biography of a Tyrone Family," there is a n< 

 foot of page 74, narrating the mode of the destruction of the 

 last wolves in Ireland. That note I shall abridge thus : 



In the mountainous parts of the county Tyrono, th in- 

 habitants suffered much from the wolves, and gave from the 

 public fund, as much for the head of one of these animals, 

 as they would now give for the capture of a notorious robber on 

 the highway. There lived in those days an adventurer, who, 

 alone and unassisted, made it his occupation to destroy those 

 ravagers. The time for attacking them was in the night, 

 and midnight was the best time for doing so, as that 

 their wonted time for leaving thoir lair in search of food, 

 when the country was at rest, and all was still ; then, issu- 

 ing forth, they fell on their defenceless prey, and the carnage 

 commenced. There was a species of dog for the purpose of 

 hunting them, resembling a rough, stout, half-bred grey- 

 hound, but much stronger. In the county Tyrone there was 

 then a large space of ground enclosed by a high stone- wall, 

 having a gap at the two opposite extremities, and in this 

 were secured the flocks of the surrounding farmers. Still, 

 ecure though this fold was deemed, it was entered by the 

 wolves, and its inmates slaughtered. The neighboring pro- 

 prietors having heard of the noted wolf-hunter above men- 



