“I remember a tale of one of my father’s terriers who got so lost.  The keepers went daily to the cairn hoping against hope.  At last one day a pair of bright eyes were seen at the bottom of a hole.  They did not disappear when the dog’s name was called.  A brilliant idea seized one of the keepers.  The dog evidently could not get up, so a rabbit skin was folded into a small parcel round a stone and let down by a string.  The dog at once seized the situation—­and the skin—­held on, was drawn up, and fainted on reaching the mouth of the hole.  He was carried home tenderly and nursed; he recovered.”

Referring to the characteristics of this terrier, Colonel Malcolm continues:—­“Attention to breeding as to colour has undoubtedly increased the whiteness, but, other points being good, a dog of the West Highland White Terrier breed is not to be rejected if he shows his descent by a slight degree of pale red or yellow on his back or his ears.  I know an old Argyllshire family who consider that to improve their terriers they ought all to have browny yellow ears.  Neither again, except for the show bench, is there the slightest objection to half drop ears—­i.e., the points of one or both ears just falling over.

“Unfortunately, the show bench has a great tendency to spoil all breeds from too much attention being given to what is evident—­and ears are grand things for judges to pin their faith to; also, they greatly admire a fine long face and what is called—­but wrongly called—­a strong jaw, meaning by that an ugly, heavy face.  I have often pointed out that the tiger, the cat, the otter, all animals remarkable for their strength of jaw, have exceedingly short faces, but their bite is cruelly hard.  And what, again, could be daintier than the face of a fox?

“The terrier of the West Highlands of Scotland has come down to the present day, built on what I may perhaps call the fox lines, and it is a type evolved by work—­hard and deadly dangerous work.  It is only of late years that dogs have been bred for show.  The so-called ‘Scottish’ Terrier, which at present rules the roost, dates from 1879 as a show dog.

“I therefore earnestly hope that no fancy will arise about these dogs which will make them less hardy, less wise, less companionable, less active, or less desperate fighters underground than they are at present.  A young dog that I gave to a keeper got its stomach torn open in a fight.  It came out of the cairn to its master to be helped.  He put the entrails back to the best of his ability, and then the dog slipped out of his hands to finish the fight, and forced the fox out into the open!  That is the spirit of the breed; but, alas, that cannot be exhibited on the show bench.  They do say that a keeper of mine, when chaffed by the ‘fancy’ about the baby faces of his ‘lot,’ was driven to ask, ’Well, can any of you gentlemen oblige me with a cat, and I’ll show you?’ I did not hear him say it, so it may only be a tale.