IRISH WOLF-DOG. 267 



stature. He was totally white, and of a mild and peace- 

 able disposition." 



In corroboration of Buffon's theory, that the dogs of 

 Epirus and Albania are the same with the Highland deer- 

 hound, it may be remarked as not a little singular, that the 

 dogs at present in use in the mountains of Macedonia, for 

 the purpose of deer-coursing, are similar in figure, colour, 

 disposition, and in the texture of their hair, to those used in 

 this country. They are only to be found in the possession 

 of the nobility, and are with them exceedingly rare.* 



The exact size to which the deer-hound once attained in 

 this country it is now difficult, from the contradictory ac- 

 counts that have reached us, to determine. 



BufFon, as we have already seen, informs us, that the only 

 one he ever saw was much larger than a mastiff, and when 

 sitting was about five feet high. 



Goldsmith, in his account of the species of dog known 

 in Ireland in his time, under the name of " Irish wolf-dog," 

 represents him as being rather kept for show than for use, 

 there being neither wolves nor any other formidable beast of 

 preyin Ireland that seem to require so powerful an antagonist. 



Judging also from the drawing of Lord Altamount's dogs, 

 given by Mr. Lambert, and from the measurements taken 

 by him in 1790, it is evident that these wolf-dogs, as they 

 are called, bore no resemblance whatever to the Irish grey- 

 hound, as described by Holinshed, with which also they 

 hunted wolves, as is apparent from their broad pendulous 

 ears, hanging lips, hollow backs, heavy bodies, smooth hair, 

 straight hocks, drooping tails, and party colour ; but were, 

 in all probability, a remnant of the old Irish blood-hound, 

 which was frequently used for tracking wolves, and which 

 at a later period might have been mistaken for a species 

 then in that country nearly, if not altogether extinct. 



* My friend, Mr. Skene, is possessed of an ancient and curious map of 

 the world, in which the ert, or elk, is represented as characterising the 

 Transylvanian Forest, and near it is a representation of ' ' Canes fortiores, " 

 or the great Albanian dog, which these northern tribes are reported to have 

 used to drag their carriages, as well as to hunt the bear, wolf, and elk. 

 The animal given as the elk in the map is represented with very broad 

 palmated horns, more like those of the moose deer, or the extinct Cervus 

 euryceros, whose remains are found in the bogs of Ireland and the Isle of 

 Man, than the true elk. This serves to connect the miol-chu of Ireland 

 and the Highlands still more closely with the Albanian deer-dog. W. S. 



