[Pg 353]

THE IRISH PENNY JOURNAL.

Number 45.SATURDAY, MAY 8, 1841.Volume I.
An Irish wolf-dog

THE IRISH WOLF-DOG.

The greyhound! the great hound! the graceful of limb!
Rough fellow! tall fellow! swift fellow, and slim!
Let them sound through the earth, let them sail o’er the sea,
They will light on none other more ancient than thee!
Old MS.

No individual of the canine race has attained an equal amountof fame, or excited an equal degree of attention through Europe,not merely in the days of his acknowledged existenceamongst our dogs of chase, but even now, that he is consideredto be extinct, with that once possessed by the superbcreature whose picture adorns our title-page, and an accountof whom forms the subject of the present article. Public opinionhas long been divided respecting the precise appearanceand form of this majestic animal, and so many different ideashave been conceived of him, that many persons have been inducedto come to the conclusion that no particular breed ofdogs was ever kept for wolf-hunting in this country, but thatthe appellation of “wolf-dog” was bestowed upon any dogswift enough to overtake and powerful enough to contendwith and overcome that formidable animal. There are thosewho hold this opinion, and there are likewise those who holdthat while a particular breed was used, it was a sort of heavymastiff-like dog, now extinct. It is the object of the presentpaper to show that not only did Ireland possess a peculiarrace of dogs exclusively devoted to wolf-hunting, but thatthose dogs, instead of being of the mastiff kind, resembledthe greyhound in form; and instead of being extinct, are stillto be met with, although we are compelled to acknowledgethat they are very scarce. I myself was once in very grosserror respecting this dog, for I like many others conceived himto have been a mastiff, and implicitly believed that the dogs ofLord Altamont, described in the 3d vol. of the Linnæan Transactionsby Mr Lambert, were the sole surviving representativesof the Irish wolf-dog. An able and talented paper, readby Mr A. Haffield of this city, about a year ago, before theDublin Natural History Society, served to stagger me in mybelief, and subsequent careful inquiry and research have completedmy conversion. I proceed to lay before my readers the[Pg 354]result of that inquiry, and I feel confident that no individualafter reading the evidences which I shall adduce, will continueto harbour a doubt respecting the true appearance andform of the ancient Irish wolf-dog.

We are informed by such disjointed scraps of Celtic verseas Time, that merciless destroyer, has suffered to come down,though in a mutilated form, to our days, that in the times ofold, when Fionn Mac Cumbaill, popularly styled Fin Mac Cool,wielded the sceptre of power and of justice, we possessed aprodigious and courageous dog used for hunting the deer andthe wild boar, with, though last not least, the grim and savagewolf which ravaged the folds and slaughtered the herdsof our ancestors. We learn from the same source that thesedogs were also frequently employed as auxiliaries in war, a

...

BU KİTABI OKUMAK İÇİN ÜYE OLUN VEYA GİRİŞ YAPIN!


Sitemize Üyelik ÜCRETSİZDİR!