Page:The power of the dog.djvu/60



HORT legged, long bodied terriers have been indigenous to Scotland for more centuries than history records. Something comes to us from the second half of the sixteenth century, when the Bishop of Ross wrote of a scenting dog, "of low height, indeed, but of bulkier body, which, creeping into subterraneous burrows, routs out foxes, badgers, martens, and wild cats from their lurking places and dens. Then, if he at any time finds the passage too narrow, opens himself a way with his feet, and that with so great labour that he frequently perishes through his own exertions." No matter what changes and modifications may have been since introduced by the skill of man, the bedrock fact remains that the Bishop's dogs were fashioned much on the lines of the aristocrats of the show bench to-day. Why Scotland should be prolific in terriers of the long and low shape, while England and Ireland are satisfied with those of a normal height is one of those things difficult of explanation. Theoretically, one would naturally imagine