Differs from the variety above described, in having a larger head, a shorter body, and usually a rougher coat. The ears should stand well up without any outward inclination, and they are only covered with short hair, which, like that on the rest of the head, should be silky.

The above description of the drop-eared breed is that of the type to which all ought to be compared, but it is not often that I have seen a specimen fully coming up to it. At the Birmingham show of 1865, however, the prize winner Laddie, whose portrait I now present to my readers,, fully realised my ideas of the points of the Skye. He was exhibited by Mr. Russell England, Junior United Service Club, London, and was by a dog belonging to Mr. Daniel Cameron, of Lochiel, out of Mr. James's Lassie, his granddam belonging to his owner. He was a silver grey, with black tips to his ears and tail, and I have never since that time seen his equal The portrait of the prick-eared variety is that of a dog belonging to Mr. H. Martin, of Glasgow.

The following letter in relation to this breed, will probably be of interest to many lovers of the dog.

"To the Editor of 'Dogs of the British Islands.'"

"Sir, - In answer to your request I may remind you of some letters which appeared in The Field three or four years ago, from Mr. Robert Jewel, Lydiates, Herefordshire, and myself, regarding the Scotch terriers. Our object, at the time, being to direct attention to the merits of this fine old breed, which, though plentiful enough forty years ago, has now become scarce, with the view of having it re-established.

"If I am not mistaken, there was a discussion in one or other of the London sporting papers on the same subject, twelve or eighteen months ago, which you may have seen. This, I think, occurred shortly after the Inverness Dog Show of 1875, when the question was mooted as to what the Skye terrier really was, one party maintaining the silky, and the other the wiry-haired Skyes was the original type. Both varieties were shown at Inverness, and it would be difficult to say which was the handsomest. I suspect the former had the most admirers. But, be this as it may, no doubt should exist as to which was the original and true terrier. In fact the wiry-haired dog had been bred up for a special purpose, namely, to hunt and go to ground after the larger kinds of wild animals, with which the Highlands of Scotland formerly abounded, while the soft haired, blue and tan as they are called, are the result of a cross between the old breed and the French poodle. At all events nothing could be more natural than to suppose, as some Skye gentlemen allege, that the sailors of a French vessel, stranded on the Skye coast, should leave some of these dogs with the inhabitants of the island.

But, it is curious and remarkable, if this theory be correct, that the poodle should have nicked in so nicely with the native terrier. When I use the word native, I should perhaps mention that the wiry Skye is smaller, and in other respects somewhat different from his congener on the mainland, but not in any essential particular. In fact their pluck, colour, hair, hardihood and general contour are, and have always been, much the same, the difference of build merely arising from the desire to have them of a suitable size for hunting the otter, the only varmint of any consequence peculiar to Skye. Of course the cairns and caverns of that rugged seaboard afford the animals the best of shelter, while the inland fresh water lakes and streams, as well as the sea, yield a never-failing supply of food. I am informed hunting and bolting the otter from these fastnesses with a small pack of the right sort, such as those still to be seen at Waternish, in all their pristine purity, affords excellent sport.

" But while this is the sort of work for which terriers are chiefly used on the Island of Skye and throughout the Hebrides, it can be readily imagined, their duties were very different on the mainland, where fox, foumart, marten, and wild cat, at one time abounded, and hence the necessity for breeding the mainland terrier of greater strength. It is but fair, however, to say these wiry dogs with their punishing heads - no matter whether small or large, prick or drop-eared - could hardly be excelled for pluck, nose, and endurance. They had courage to face anything, and often paid dearly for their temerity, as the mutilated heads of the heros I have frequently seen and heard of could testify.

"As I have already stated, the Skye type is still to be found pure on the island as well as occasionally on the mainland, but the latter, or larger-sized terrier, is now very rare. And what it may be asked is the cause of their disappearance and deterioration ? The question is easily answered, namely, to nothing but injudicious crossing. After the cross with the poodle was bred-up, the " blue and tan beauties " became greater favourites; everybody praised them, and the hardy old-fashioned terrier was in due time completely .superseded. The new variety appears even to have been credited with all the merits of the old, and, as a natural consequence, connoisseurs, fanciers, ladies, and even gamekeepers went in for the fashionable and pretty silky Skyes. So in this way the old breed, especially on the mainland, has been reduced to a parcel of mongrels.

"I have no doubt the circumstances of four-footed vermin having been decimated by trapping was another reason for keepers being less careful to breed courageous dogs. At any rate, such a thing as a good specimen, as I have said, is hardly to be seen nowadays. After much inquiry I have only been able to discover the whereabouts of a few which have any pretensions to the original mainland breed. - P. R. L".