It is a most extraordinary fact that Scotland should have unto herself so many different varieties of the terrier.  There is strong presumption that they one and all came originally from one variety, and it is quite possible, nay probable, that different crosses into other varieties have produced the assortment of to-day.  The writer is strongly of opinion that there still exist in Scotland at the present time specimens of the breed which propagated the lot, which was what is called even now the Highland Terrier, a little long-backed, short-legged, snipy-faced, prick or drop-eared, mostly sandy and black-coloured terrier, game as a pebble, lively as a cricket, and all in all a most charming little companion; and further, that to produce our present-day Scottish Terrier—­or shall we say, to improve the points of his progenitor?—­the assistance of our old friend the Black and Tan wire-haired terrier of England was sought by a few astute people living probably not very far from Aberdeen.

Scottish Terriers frequently go by the name of Aberdeen Terriers—­an appellation, it is true, usually heard only from the lips of people who do not know much about them.  Mr. W. L. McCandlish, one of the greatest living authorities on the breed, in an able treatise published some time back, tells us, in reference to this matter, that the terrier under notice went at different periods under the names of Highland, Cairn, Aberdeen, and Scotch; that he is now known by the proud title of Scottish Terrier; and that “the only surviving trace of the differing nomenclature is the title Aberdeen, which many people still regard as a different breed—­a want of knowledge frequently turned to account by the unscrupulous dealer who is able to sell under the name of Aberdeen a dog too bad to dispose of as a Scottish Terrier.”  But there can be no doubt that originally there must have been some reason for the name.  In a letter to the writer, Sir Paynton Pigott says, “Some people call them and advertise them as the Aberdeen Terrier, which is altogether a mistake; but the reason of it is that forty years ago a Dr. Van Bust, who lived in Aberdeen, bred these terriers to a large extent and sold them, and those buying them called them, in consequence, ‘Aberdeen Terriers,’ whereas they were in reality merely a picked sort of Old Scotch or Highland Terrier.”  Sir Paynton himself, as appears from the columns of The Live Stock Journal (March 2nd, 1877), bought some of the strain of Van Bust, and therein gives a full description of the same.

Sir Paynton Pigott’s kennel of the breed assumed quite large proportions, and was most successful, several times winning all the prizes offered in the variety at different shows.  He may well be called the Father of the breed in England, for when he gave up exhibiting, a great deal of his best blood got into the kennels of Mr. H. J. Ludlow, who, as everyone knows, has done such a tremendous amount of good in popularising the breed and has also himself produced