THE FOX-TERRIER. 81 
as a consequence, the veritable foxhound terrier entered to his: 
game is rare indeed. 
Most of the best modern strains trace back to the Wynnstay 
blood or that of Mr. Foljambe, and, as a natural consequence, 
Mr. John Walker, formerly huntsman to Sir Watkyns Wynn, was 
regarded as the oracle from whom we might expect the words of 
wisdom required to define the properties and points of the breed. 
But: since the above strains were mostly white and tan, what is 
called “the true hound colour,” viz., white marked with black and 
tan, was not at first so much de rigewr as it now is; for though 
many white and red and white and black fox-terriers get first 
prizes, yet the hound colour with most judges wipes out many 
trifling blots which would otherwise keep the individual in th 
H.C. division. 
The origin of this colour is said by the admirers of the breed 
to have been a cross with the black and tan English terrier, but 
others allege that the beagle has been resorted to, adducing the 
close-falling ear as a proof of their theory. Certainly, with the 
exception of the: Dandie Dinmont and the dog now under con- 
sideration, none of the terriers have ears falling close to the 
cheeks, and I see no reason to suppose that breeders would take 
the trouble in either case to obtain by selection a property entirely 
in opposition to that already displayed by the best examples of 
either. Without doubt it would be easy enough to do so in course 
of time, as we all know what can be done by careful selection ; 
but my long experience teaches me that, when such changes have 
occurred, they have been accidental, and not the result of a plan 
laid down beforehand, unless some good purpose was: to be 
answered, which is certainly not the case with the ears of fox- 
terriers. Formerly they were, like all other terriers, carefully 
_ cropped; and no doubt it was because the natural ear kept out 
the earth from the internal passages that the practice was dis- 
continued; but the half-pricked ear of the English terrier answers 
this purpose equally well, as it is only the soil falling from the 
roof of the earth which can enter the passage, not that thrown 
back by the feet of the dog in his digging. Hence I can only 
account for this departure from the true terrier form of ear in 
both of these breeds by supposing a cross with some other dog, 
F 
