GENERAL APPEARANCE—­A terrier calculated to take his own part in the rat pit, and not of the Whippet type.  HEAD—­The head should be long, flat, and narrow, level and wedge-shaped, without showing cheek muscles; well filled up under the eyes, with tapering, tightly-lipped jaws and level teeth.  EYES—­The eyes should be very small, sparkling, and bright, set fairly close together and oblong in shape.  NOSE—­Black.  EARS—­The correct carriage of ears is a debatable point since cropping has been abolished.  Probably in the large breed the drop ear is correct, but for Toys either erect or semi-erect carriage of the ear is most desirable.  NECK AND SHOULDERS—­The neck should be fairly long and tapering from the shoulders to the head, with sloping shoulders, the neck being free from throatiness and slightly arched at the occiput.  CHEST—­The chest should be narrow but deep.  BODY—­The body should be moderately short and curving upwards at the loin; ribs well sprung, back slightly arched at the loin and falling again at the joining of the tail to the same height as the shoulders.  FEET—­The feet should be more inclined to be cat- than hare-footed.  TAIL—­The tail should be of moderate length and set on where the arch of the back ends; thick where it joins the body, tapering to a point, and not carried higher than the back.  COAT—­The coat should be close, smooth, short and glossy.  COLOUR—­The coat should be jet black and rich mahogany tan, distributed over the body as follows:  On the head the muzzle is tanned to the nose, which with the nasal bone is jet black.  There is also a bright spot on each cheek and above each eye; the underjaw and throat are tanned, and the hair inside the ears is the same colour; the fore-legs tanned up to the knee, with black lines (pencil marks) up each toe, and a black mark (thumb mark) above the foot; inside the hind-legs tanned, but divided with black at the hock joints; and under the tail also tanned; and so is the vent, but only sufficiently to be easily covered by the tail; also slightly tanned on each side of the chest.  Tan outside the hind-legs—­commonly called breeching—­is a serious defect.  In all cases the black should not run into the tan, nor vice versa, but the division between the two colours should be well defined.  WEIGHT—­For toys not exceeding 7 lb.; for the large breed from 10 to 20 lb. is most desirable.

CHAPTER XXXI

THE BULL-TERRIER

The Bull-terrier is now a gentlemanly and respectably owned dog, wearing an immaculate white coat and a burnished silver collar; he has dealings with aristocracy, and is no longer contemned for keeping bad company.  But a generation or two ago he was commonly the associate of rogues and vagabonds, skulking at the heels of such members of society as Mr. William Sikes, whom he accompanied at night on darksome business to keep watch outside while Bill was within, cracking the crib.  In