This is a more strongly-built variety or sub-breed of the Common or English Greyhound. It is less swift than its southern brother, but more muscular, more hairy, and inclined to “dodge” the Hare in coursing, instead of winning by speed alone. THE DEERHOUND. This is a well-marked variety of the Greyhound breed, distinguished by stronger form, shaggy hair, and drooping ears. Both in appearance and in disposition it is wilder and more savage than the Greyhound; sometimes being decidedly inclined to ferocity. It was a Dog of this breed, named “Maida,” which was the special favourite of Sir Walter Scott, and which is so often painted by the side of the great novelist, who describes his noble hound, under the name of “Bevis,” in “Woodstock,” as being “in strength a Mastiff, in form and almost in fleetness a Greyhound. Bevis was the noblest of the kind which ever pulled down a Stag, tawny-coloured like a Lion, with a black muzzle and black feet, just edged with a line of white round the toes. He was as tractable as he was strong and bold.” THE TURKISH GREYHOUND, if Greyhound it should be called, is a small Dog, either entirely devoid of hair, or having only a few hairs on its tail. “He is never now in the field, and bred only as a spoiled pet--and yet not always spoiled, for anecdotes are related of his inviolable attachment to his owner. One of them belonged to a Turkish Pacha, who was destroyed by the bowstring. He would not forsake the corpse, but laid himself down by the body of his murdered master, and presently expired.”[112] THE GRECIAN GREYHOUND is doubtless the lineal descendant of the one sculptured on Grecian temples. It is a decidedly less specialised Dog than the English breed, its head being larger, its snout shorter, and its fur longer, especially on the tail. THE PERSIAN GREYHOUND. This Dog is slenderer, and has more hairy ears than the English breed. It is “much prized by the Bedouin Sheikhs, and used for the chase of the Gazelle. With its elegant shape, and the long silky hairs of its ears and tail, it is, perhaps, the most beautiful race of its kind.”[113] THE ITALIAN GREYHOUND is the smallest variety of the breed, and is used almost exclusively as a pet, for which it is valuable on account of its exquisitely beautiful form and its general amiability (see figure on p. 116); but, like many amiable people, it is a thoroughly silly little beast, devoid of all higher canine intelligence, and almost incapable of forming a strong attachment. In all the Dogs we have yet considered, the brain-case is small, and, in consequence, the intelligence is not of a very high order. In those of which we must now treat, the brain-case, with its contained organ, is of considerable size, giving the Dog the appearance of possessing a large forehead. They all, too, have great power of scent. There are, first of all, a number of Dogs consecutively grouped together under the general term of “Spaniels.” THE COCKER,