THE HALIFAX OR YORKSHIRE TERRIER. 125 



dog is a very beautiful animal, and in that respect has a great 

 advantage over all nondescript broken-haired terriers. Hence it 

 is not surprising that, when exhibited in competition with them, 

 it has always obtained the prize, reducing the old-fashioned Scotch 

 terrier to the ranks, and excluding him from every show. The 

 admirers of the breed allege that the Yorkshire dog is an improved 

 Scotch terrier by careful selection ; but in my opinion other breeds 

 have been resorted to in order to obtain the long silky coat, which 

 often is 3 or 4 inches long on the body, and on the face extends 

 to 6 or 7. Now I set no bounds to the skill and art of the 

 breeder if only time is allowed him to carry out his wishes, but I 

 scarcely think this change could be effected within the thirty years 

 that have been occupied in its production. Indeed, it is compara- 

 tively so easy to change externals by resorting to a cross, and so 

 difficult to do this by selection alone, that I candidly confess the 

 opinion that the Yorkshire terrier is not a Scotch dog improved by 

 the latter process unassisted by a cross. As long as any distinct 

 breed is left unmixed, every litter comes nearly true to the type; but 

 cross it, and varieties in all directions crop up, sometimes in a direc- 

 tion quite opposite to that intended. From the texture of coat 

 I should guess the Maltese dog has been selected, the colour 

 points rather to the King Charles spaniel. Possibly both crosses 

 have been used by Mrs. Foster and her allies, but I do not pretend 

 to fathom these mysteries, about which great reticence is main- 

 tained. 



The following may be taken as the value of the points in this 

 doo-, but they are by no means settled : — 



Colour, 



Coat, 



Shape, 



30 



Ears, . 



30 



Tail, . 



15 



Condition, 



10 



5 

 10 



Total, 



