394 
daily to the cairn hoping against hope. 
At last one day a pair of bright eyes were 
seen at the bottom of a hole. They did 
not disappear when the dog’s name was 
called. A brilliant idea seized one of the 
keepers. The dog evidently could not get 
up, so a rabbit skin was folded into a small 
parcel round a stone and let down by a 
string. The dog at once seized the situation 
—and the skin—held on, was drawn up, 
and fainted on reaching the mouth of the 
hole. He was carried home tenderly and 
nursed ; he recovered. 
Some folk may think that I waste too 
much time over my pets, but really there 
are some very interesting facts to be made 
known. I amsure that a great many people 
did not know that King James sent to 
Argyllshire when he wanted to send terriers 
abroad as a present—they must have been 
noted in those days—and I think I shall 
win consideration from all lovers of the 
“earth dogge ’’ when I remind them that 
Dr. Caius, writing ‘‘De Canibus ” (1570) in 
the spacious days of Good Queen Bess, in 
his classification of dogs, placed the hounds 
at the head of “ the most generous kinds,” 
and at the head of all hounds placed the 
terrier. 
Another old book speaks of the colour 
of the terrier as either black or yellow. 
Bell’s  ‘‘ Quadrupeds,” published 1838, 
pictures a Scottish Terrier, and says it 
differs from the other terrier which is 
pictured—not a bad old type of the English 
Black-and-tan terrier—in the rough harsh 
character of the hair, the shortness of the 
muzzle, the shortness and stoutness of the 
limbs, and the colour which is generally 
dirty white, though they vary greatly in 
this respect. A picture of a very short- 
faced dog is given. 
But perhaps my best advocate is to be 
found in the vignette on the title-page of 
“The Art of Deer-stalking,” by Wilham 
Scrope, wherein Sir E. Landseer, with deer 
and other hounds, shows a terrier with 
drop ears and the short face I plead for 
(see p. 391). Sir Edwin Landseer for such 
a picture would have the run of all the 
best of the Duke of Athol’s terriers for 
THE NEW BOOK 
OF (EBHE. DOG. 
his model. The 
is 1839. 
Bewick’s ‘‘ Quadrupeds ”’ (third edition, 
published in 1792), speaks also of two kinds 
of terriers—the one rough, short-legged, 
long-backed, very strong, and most com- 
monly of a black or yellowish colour, 
mixed with white. His picture shows a 
lot of moustache about the mouth in such 
a way that it must have been a very dis- 
tinctive feature in those days. 
From these ancient authorities we learn 
that white or wheaten yellow is not a new 
thing; neither is the short face nor the 
the rough face. The roughness, of course, 
as in men, increases to a certain extent 
with age. 
Attention to breeding as to colour has 
undoubtedly increased the whiteness, but, 
other points being good, a dog of the West 
Highland White Terrier breed is not to 
be rejected if he shows his descent by a 
slight degree of pale red or yellow on his 
back or his ears. I know an old Argyllshire 
family who consider that to improve their 
terriers they ought all to have browny 
yellow ears. Neither again, except for 
the show bench, is there the slightest 
objection to half drop ears—i.e. the points 
of one or both ears just falling over. 
Unfortunately, the show bench has a 
great tendency to spoil all breeds from too 
much attention being given to what is 
evident—and ears are grand things for 
judges to pin their faith to; also, they 
greatly admire a fine long face and what 
is called—but wrongly called—a_ strong 
jaw, meaning by that an ugly, heavy face. 
I have often pointed out that the tiger, 
the cat, the otter, all animals remarkable 
for their strength of jaw, have exceedingly 
short faces, but their bite is cruelly hard. 
And what, again, could be daintier than 
the face of a fox ? 
The terrier of the West Highlands of 
Scotland has come down to the present 
day, built on what I may perhaps call 
the fox lines, and it is a type evolved by 
work—hard and deadly dangerous work. 
It is only of late years that dogs have been 
bred for show. The so-called ‘* Scottish ” 
date of this vignette 
