From the above remarks and authorities it will be gathered that very large dogs are of little use in deerstalking. It must not, however, be supposed that I would necessarily confine the show Deerhound within the same limits. Everyone likes a fine, upstanding dog, and a little extra height may, perhaps, be tolerated in a show dog; but what is deprecated is the awarding of a prize to a dog simply and solely because he is large, coarse, and bulky - in fact, for the very and only reason that he possesses those qualities which would entirely unfit him for the purpose which his names implies. Personally, I think dogs of 30m. tall enough for anything; and that, instead of trying to raise them beyond this, the efforts of breeders would be more usefully directed to improving their quality, and obtaining the requisite combination of strength and speed.

The causes of the disuse of the Deerhound in the Highlands are, as is pretty well known, the greater precision of modern rifles, and the great demand for, and consequent sub-division of, deer forests and shootings. Years ago, when the large Highland proprietors, or chieftains, held their vast tracks in their own possession, before they had begun to realise what a gold mine their barren hills and wild expanse of heather contained, it mattered little how much the deer were disturbed or how far they were driven. But now that forests, by sub-division, have become far more numerous, and as nothing frightens away deer more than chasing them with Deerhounds, the use of the latter has died away, and, indeed, is prohibited in many leases.

Another circumstance which threatens to seriously injure and coarsen the Deerhound is the modern craze that seeks to identify the Irish Wolfhound, long extinct, with a gigantic Deerhound. To attain the required standard, the Deerhound has been crossed with various large breeds, even, I believe, with the St. Bernard; but the results have not been satisfactory, as, though bulk and coarseness have been obtained, the height does not appear to have been increased. Some of the animals thus bred have found their way on to the show-bench as Deerhounds, and will certainly, with their mixed blood, do no good to the breed if they transmit the qualities for which themselves are conspicuous.

Having now seen what the Deerhound, in my opinion, was not, let us see what he is. He is doubtless the tall, rough Greyhound of ancient days, appointed, as Holinshed says, to hunt the larger beasts, such as stags and the like, and probably at one time as common in England as in Scotland. The disappearance of the larger animals in a wild state from England at such an early period contrasted with Scotland would account for his being found in the latter country so long a time after he had totally died away here. There can, indeed, be no doubt, from the accounts of Caius and Holinshed, and those we get from others, that large 'shagg-haired' Greyhounds were used in England. This affords another inference against the theory of Richardson, for, if the Irish dog had been no more than a large, rough Greyhound, it would not have been in any way remarkable. It was clearly a specific animal, peculiar to Ireland, which merely rough Greyhounds evidently were not. The Russian Wolfhound is an analogous example of the tall, rough Greyhound of ancient days, yet I have never heard it claimed as an Irish Wolfdog.

Captain Graham, in 'The Book of the Dog,' says the earliest record of the Deerhound is that given by Pennant, in 1769, and elsewhere he founds thereon one of the chief inferences for his Wolfdog theory, 'that, whilst we have accounts of all the noticeable breeds from a remote period, including the Irish Wolfdog, we do not find any allusion to the Deerhound, save in writings of a comparatively modern date, which in a measure justify us in supposing that the Deerhound is the modern representative of that superb animal.' Now, if my theory is correct that the Deerhound is simply the tall, rough Greyhound used for hunting the larger game, this apparent want of allusion is explained, as we have plenty of references to such Greyhounds. It is remarkable that, to this day, the Deerhound is often called 'a Greyhound' by the Highlanders. A gentleman informed me, some years ago, that his forester always used the term 'Greyhound,' and I have letters from gentlemen in the Highlands in which the terms Greyhound, Staghound, and Deerhound are used indifferently; in fact, Deerhound is a term even now far less in use than Staghound.

We cannot, therefore, feel surprised if we do not meet the term 'Deerhound ' in old times, when we get mention of the Greyhound under the term of Highland Greyhound, or its equivalent. The 'Irish Greyhounds' mentioned by Taylor, in 1620, were most certainly Deerhounds; but, to save any quibbling on terms, I will now proceed to show that the specific word 'Deerhound' was used long ago, before any degeneracy from the Wolfdog can be supposed. In Pitscottie's ' History of Scotland,' published about 1600, occurs the following passage: 'The king (a.d. 1528) desired all gentlemen that had dogges that war guid to bring thame to hunt in the saidis boundis, quhilk the most pairt of the noblemen of the Highlandis did, sick as the Earles of Huntlie, Argyle, and Athol, who brought their deir houndis with thame and hunted with his majestie.'

This authority is decisive, and completely shatters the last possible remnant of the chief argument for the identification of the Irish Wolfdog with the Deerhound. The inference that both were the same is met by the irresistible fact that the Irish dog was imported into Scotland when the Deerhound existed in large numbers, and at a period when it cannot have degenerated. The further inference of the Richardsonians, that with a change of occupation came a change of name, and that the name Deerhound was not used until very late times, when the Wolfdog had degenerated into the Deerhound, is shown to be utterly unfounded by the fact of the use of the name Deerhound three hundred years ago. The last pretence for such an inference is now destroyed.