There are lovers of the hard-bitten working “earth dogs” who still keep these strains inviolate, and who greatly prefer them to the better-known terriers whose natural activities have been too often atrophied by a system of artificial breeding to show points.  Few of these old unregistered breeds would attract the eye of the fancier accustomed to judge a dog parading before him in the show ring.  To know their value and to appreciate their sterling good qualities, one needs to watch them at work on badger or when they hit upon the line of an otter.  It is then that they display the alertness and the dare-devil courage which have won for the English terriers their name and fame.

An excellent working terrier was the white, rough-haired strain kept by the Rev. John Russell in Devonshire and distributed among privileged sportsmen about Somersetshire and Gloucestershire.  The working attributes of these energetic terriers have long been understood, and the smart, plucky little dogs have been constantly coveted by breeders all over the country, but they have never won the popularity they deserve.

Those who have kept both varieties prefer the Russell to the Sealyham Terrier, which is nevertheless an excellent worker.  It is on record that one of these, a bitch of only 9 lb. weight, fought and killed, single-handed, a full-grown dog-fox.  The Sealyham derives its breed name from the seat of the Edwardes family, near Haverfordwest, in Pembrokeshire, where the strain has been carefully preserved for well over a century.  It is a long-bodied, short-legged terrier, with a hard, wiry coat, frequently whole white, but also white with black or brown markings or brown with black.  They may be as heavy as 17 lb., but 12 lb. is the average weight.  Some years ago the breed seemed to be on the down grade, requiring fresh blood from a well-chosen outcross.  One hears very little concerning them nowadays, but it is certain that when in their prime they possessed all the grit, determination, and endurance that are looked for in a good working terrier.

A wire-haired black and tan terrier was once common in Suffolk and Norfolk, where it was much used for rabbiting, but it may now be extinct, or, if not extinct, probably identified with the Welsh Terrier, which it closely resembled in size and colouring.  There was also in Shropshire a well-known breed of wire-hair terriers, black and tan, on very short legs, and weighing about 10 lb. or 12 lb., with long punishing heads and extraordinary working powers.  So, too, in Lancashire and Cheshire one used to meet with sandy-coloured terriers of no very well authenticated strain, but closely resembling the present breed of Irish Terrier; and Squire Thornton, at his place near Pickering, in Yorkshire, had a breed of wire-hairs tan in colour with a black stripe down the back.  Then there is the Cowley strain, kept by the Cowleys of Callipers, near King’s Langley.  These are white wire-haired