399 
THE ELEVEN FOR SCOTLAND. 
BRED BY COLONEL MALCOLM, OF POLTALLOCH. 
Photograph by C. Reid, Wishaw. 
CHAPTER XLI. 
THE WEST HIGHLAND WHITE TERRIER. 
By COLONEL E. D. MALCOLM, C.B., 
“A small bold breed and steady to the game 
Next claims the tribute of peculiar fame ! 
Train'd by the tribes on Britain’s wildest shore, 
Thence they their title of Agasses bore. 
Small as the race that useless to their lord 
Bask on the hearth and beg about the board, 
Crook-limbed and black-eyed, all their frame 
appears 
Flanked with no flesh and bristled rough 
with hairs 
ANYONE who looks on the map of 
nA Scotland must be struck with the 
way in which ice and sea have 
worked together to plough long valleys 
out of the hills and fill them up with 
salt water. Sometimes even more than 
that has been done—the water has got 
all round the land and separated it from 
the main mass, cutting most marvellously 
into what it has taken, as a glance at the 
Island of Skye—the Winged Island—or 
at the Outer Hebrides will show. In this 
way the Western Highlands of Scotland 
are endowed with a sea coast of marvellous 
length. It is said, for instance, that there 
OF POLTALLOCH. 
But shod each foot with hardest claws 1s seen, 
The sole’s kind armour on the beaten green ; 
But fenced each jaw with closest teeth is found, 
And death sits instant on th’ inflicted wound. 
Far o'er the rest he quests the secret prey, 
And sees each track wind opening to his ray: 
Far o'er the vest he feels each scent that 
blows 
Court the live nerve and thrill along the 
nose.” 
JOHN WHITAKER, 1771. 
is no spot in the county of Argyll more than 
five miles, as the crow flies, from the sea. 
Except in the extreme north-east corner, 
most of the county is within four miles of 
the sea. The sea has for the most part 
taken away the soft stuff and left only 
hard rocks. 
Here we have the natural homes of the 
badger, the fox, the otter, and the now 
almost extinct wild cat. 
Man, being a hunting animal, kills the 
otter for his skin, and the badger also; 
the fox he kills because the animal likes 
lamb and game to eat. Man, being unable 
to deal in the course of a morning with 
