In modern times the breed of Mr. Menzies, of Chesthill, is doubtless the oldest strain we have note of. A gentleman who knows the district well, and purchased a dog called Ossian at Menzies of Chesthill's sale some years ago, informed the writer that the family claimed to have had the breed pure for one hundred years. Ossian is the grandsire of my Champion Cuchullin.

Next in point of antiquity would come the strain of Mr. Grant, of Glenmoriston, for Captain Basil Hall, who described his dogs in 1848, and who therefore saw them, probably, a year or so before, mentions that Mr. Grant had kept the breed thirty years, which would take us back to about 1815 or so. I have never seen Captain Basil Hall referred to in relation to the Deerhound, though his account is highly interesting. He states that the first dog Glenmoriston had was sent him by Captain Macdonald, of Moray in the Braes of Lochaber. Having heard of a pure and beautiful bitch, celebrated for her great courage and lasting power, then the property of Mr. Mackenzie, of Applecross, Glenmoriston suggested to him that one of them should keep up the breed. Mr. Mackenzie declined, and the bitch became domiciled at Invermoriston, from which period - then about forty years ago - the breed had remained uncontaminated in those parts. Captain Hall then remarks that he had since learnt that Glenmoriston had relinquished the breed to Mr. E. Ellis, of Glengarry.

The breed of McNeil of Colonsay, described in Scrope's work in 1839, would be the next one of which we have any account. His dogs have been already described.

It may here be mentioned that Captain Hall states that he had two Glenmoriston dogs, and one from another source, and that he gave one to a friend in Ireland. It was, perhaps, some of the descendants of this latter dog that Captain Graham's friend mistook for Wolfdogs in the early part of the ' Forties' of this century, At all events, we see that Deerhounds had been sent to Ireland.

General Hugh Ross and Colonel David Ross had also a fine kennel in Glenmoidart some years ago, the remains of which, including Oscar, winner of first prize Birmingham in 1865 and 1866, passed into the hands of their relative Major Robertson, who, unfortunately, lost the stud records. I have no very distinct recollection of Oscar, but he has been described to me by the breeder of Morni - whose sire Oscar was - as a dog not over large, but with grand hindquarters and thorough Deerhound character. Colonel Campbell, of Monzie, was also noted for his kennel of Deerhounds some thirty years or more ago. I never saw but one actually bred by Monzie - an elegant yellow dog, called Rob, exhibited by Mrs. Cameron Campbell, at Birmingham, in 1870, good sized, and with plenty of character. Monzie's Gruamach, the sire of Lochiel's Torunn (afterwards belonging to Mr. Musters) and Pirate, is perhaps the best known of this strain. He was, doubtless, a very fine dog, and I may perhaps be permitted to mention, without being charged with egotism, that I was informed by a gentleman who has kept Deerhounds for work for nearly thirty years, and who was well acquainted with Monzie's dogs, and bred from them, that Gruamach and Morni were the two finest Deerhounds he had ever seen. The same gentleman informed me - horresco referens - that Gruamach, in his old age, was killed and eaten by his kennel companions ! This is the worst blot on the Deerhound's character that I ever knew, and is almost incredible. In conversation, some years after, with the kennelman who had charge of the dogs at the time, he repeated the circumstance, with particulars. It appears that Gruamach had been the master of the kennel so long, that his younger companions rose one night in a body against his tyranny, and treated him as I have described.

Perhaps the happiest hit ever known in breeding show Deer-hounds was made by my friend Mr. Pershouse Parkes when he sent Brenda, the own sister to Morni, to Mr. Musters's Torunn. The one litter contained such noted dogs as Mr. Musters's Torunn (the Younger), Mr. H. P. Parkes's champion bitch Teeldar, Lord St. Leonard's Hylda, and Mr. Lewis's Meg, all great winners on the show-bench at Birmingham and the other large shows. In addition to this, their blood, or that of their near relative Morni, is to be found in nearly every show dog of the present day.

As an example of the uncertainty in choosing a puppy in dogs like the Deerhound, it may be mentioned that Morni and his sister Brenda were the two selected by their breeder for weeding out from a litter of six. I selected the dog for a small sum, and the bitch was given away to a friend. The one grew up into Champion Morni, the most successful show dog of his day, though he retired at six years old; and the other became the dam and ancestress of more prize winners than any other bitch that can be mentioned. Such is luck. Allowance must be made for the fond prejudice of ownership, and perhaps a discount taken off accordingly ; but I cannot call to mind a dog that combined in a greater degree than Morni the qualities of symmetry and strength : of a good height, and a greater proportionate length than is usually seen, he nevertheless possessed an extremely deep chest and enormous loin, with a wonderful breadth of hindquarters, a grand forearm, and yet withal a perfect Greyhound frame. There was, moreover, that appearance of quality and character which is so wanting in some specimens nowadays. One fault was ever found with him - viz. that his coat was too soft; but that arose from the way he was treated, in being made a pet of. Had he been kept out in a kennel, and roughed it, the coat would have been hard enough; and, as it was, it was hardness itself to that of most of the prize winners we have seen since. Morni had but few chances given him at the stud, his services being only allowed to a select few. He was chiefly used by a gentleman who bred dogs for work alone, and the few of his progeny that have found their way on to the show-bench have been odd dogs out of such litters. Nevertheless, every dog but one by him that has been shown has been a prize winner; and, what is more, the pups that were bred for work all showed themselves possessed of speed, courage, and all the qualities of the Deerhound in their vocation in the Highlands.