In those days two things--and two things only--were imperatively necessary: pluck and capacity to get at the quarry. This entailed that the body in which the pluck was enshrined must be small and most active, to get at the innermost recesses of the lair, and that the body must be protected by the best possible teeth and jaws for fighting, on a strong and rather long neck and directed by a most capable brain. It is held that feet turned out a little are better for scrambling up rocks than perfectly straight Fox-terrier like feet. In addition, it was useful to have your dog of a colour easy to see when in motion, though no great weight was laid upon that point, as in the days before newspapers and trains men's eyes were good, as a rule. Still, the quantity of white in the existing terriers all through the west coast of Scotland shows that it must have been rather a favoured colour. White West Highland Terriers were kept at Poltalloch sixty years ago, and so they were first shown as Poltalloch Terriers. Yet although they were kept in their purest strain in Argyllshire, they are still to be found all along the west coast of Scotland, good specimens belonging to Ross-shire, to Skye, and at Ballachulish on Loch Leven, so that it is a breed with a long pedigree and not an invented breed of the present day. Emphatically, they are not simply white coloured Scottish Terriers, and it is an error to judge them on Scottish Terrier lines. They are smaller than the average Scottie, more "foxy" in general conformation--straight limbed, rather long, rather low, and active in body, with a broad forehead, light muzzle and underjaw, and a bright, small intelligent eye. Colonel Malcolm, of Poltalloch, who is recognised as the great authority on the breed, lays stress upon the quality of the coat. "The outer coat," he says, "should be very soft on the forehead and get gradually harder towards the haunches, but the harsh coat beloved of the show bench is all nonsense, and is the easiest thing in the world to 'fake,' as anyone can try who will dip his own hair into the now fashionable 'anturic' baths. The outer coat should be distinctly _long_, but not long in the 'fancy' or show sense. Still, it should be long enough to hang as a thatch over the soft, woolly real coat of the animal and keep it dry so that a good shake or two will throw off most of the water; while the under coat should be so thick and naturally oily that the dog can swim through a fair-sized river and not get wet, or be able to sit out through a drenching rain guarding something of his master's and be none the worse. This under coat I, at least, have never seen a judge look for, but for the working terrier it is most important. The size of the dog is perhaps best indicated by weight. The dog should not weigh more than 18 lb., nor the bitch more than 16 lb.