. Macneill, of Colonsay, of the
Highland deer-hound, in which are some interesting remarks relative to
the Irish wolf-dog, and from which I shall make a few extracts.

In making these extracts, it is impossible not to be struck with a
remark in the work referred to, that from modern writers we learn
nothing further respecting the Irish wolf-dog, than that such a race
of dogs at one time existed in Ireland, that they were of a gigantic
size, and that they are now extinct.

One great obstacle in the way of investigating the history of this dog
has arisen from the different appellations given to it, according to
the fancy of the natives in different parts of the country, such as
Irish wolf-dog, Irish greyhound, Highland deer-hound, and Scotch
greyhound, and this circumstance may have produced the confusion in
fixing its identity.

In the fourth century a number of dogs, of a great size, were sent in
iron cages from Ireland to Rome, and it is not improbable that the
dogs so sent were greyhounds, particularly as we learn from the
authority of Evelyn and others, that the Irish wolf-dog was used for
the fights of the bear-garden. "Greyhound" probably means a "great
hound."

Holinshed, in his "Description of Ireland and the Irish," written in
1586, has the following notice:--"They are not without wolves, and
greyhounds to hunt them, bigger of bone and limb than a colt;" and in
a frontispiece to Sir James Ware's "History of Ireland," an
allegorical representation is given of a passage from the Venerable
Bede, in which two dogs are introduced, bearing a strong resemblance
to that given by Gesner, in his "History of Quadrupeds," published in
1560.

The term _Irish_ is applied to Highland dogs, as everything Celtic
(not excepting the language) was designated in England; probably in
consequence of Ireland being, at that period, better known to the
English than Scotland. This is, perhaps, a proof of the similarity of
the Irish and Scotch deer-hounds.

Of the courage of the ancient deer-hound there can be little doubt,
from the nature of the game for which he was used. If any proof were
wanting, an incident mentioned by Evelyn in his Diary, in 1670, when
present at a bull-fight in the bear-garden, is conclusive. He says,
"The bulls (meaning the bull-dogs) did exceeding well, but the Irish
wolf-dog exceeded, which was a tall greyhound, a stately creature,
indeed, who beat a cruel mastiff."

Here, perhaps, is a proof that the