JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



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dams. One night they broke loose and 

 in the effort that was made to stop 

 them they broke into three divisions, 

 one of which went north, another south 

 and another westward. Hogg pur- 

 sued one division and the boy an- 

 other and Sirrah immediately started 

 off but, on account of the darkness of 

 the night and the blackness of the 

 moor, Hogg could not tell in what di- 

 rection. Hogg and the boy met at 

 daybreak and neither had discovered 

 the least trace of the lambs. They 

 went in haste to tlieir master and in- 

 formed him that they had lost his 

 whole flock of lambs and knew not 

 what had become of them. On their 

 way home they discovered a body of 

 lambs at the bottom of a deep ravine 

 and the indefatigable Sirrah stand- 

 ing in front of them. At first 

 they thought he had charge of only 

 one division. To their utter aston- 

 ishment they soon found that not one 

 lamb of the whole was wanting. 

 When Sirrah became old, Hogg sold 

 him for three guineas and told him 

 to follow his new master. He obey- 

 ed. The old dog loved his old home 

 and frequently visited it by night but 

 he never recognized Hogg afterwards 

 and resorted to all sorts of devices 

 not to meet him. 



Although the various dogs of Sir 

 Walter Scott, and Dr. John Brown, 

 Boatswain, of Lord Byron, and 

 thousands of other dogs are equally 

 interesting and scarcely less intelli- 

 gent than Sirrah, I have for a pur- 

 pose that will appear later, spent all 

 the time that I have to spare on this 

 one. Intelligence in these celebrated 

 dogs was inborn. It matured with 

 their years, as does that of man. 

 These dogs were not trained. Intelli- 

 gence differs from docility. Dogs 

 can be taught anything. 



Plutarch witnessed the performance 

 of a trained dog before the Emperor 

 Vespasian in the theatre of Marcellus 

 at Rome. One part of the perform- 

 ance was to counterfeit being poison- 

 ed by eating a piece of bread. Hav- 

 ing swallowed the bread he assumed 

 the appearance of trembling and 

 staggering and, at length, stretching 

 himself out, he lay as if dead and al- 

 lowed himself to be dragged from 

 place to place as the part of the play 

 demanded. When it was time for 

 him to come to life he began to stir 

 himself, at first, very gently as if wak- 



ing from a deep sleep; then he raised 

 his head and afterwards, to the aston- 

 ishment of the spectators, he rose and 

 walked up to one of the actors, jump- 

 ed up at him and seemed overjoyed. 

 All who were present, the Emperor 

 as well as the rest, were aroused to 

 the highest pitch of enthusiasm and 

 delight. 



Dogs frequently bear the annoy- 

 ance of children even with more pa- 

 tience than affectionate parents. 

 The superiority of dogs to most men 

 in affection, in steadfastness and loy- 

 alty to friends led a French Cynic to 

 say "The more I see of men, the bet- 

 ter I like dogs." It is not a rare oc- 

 curence for a man from some selfish 

 motive to injure afriend. No instance 

 is recorded, I think, in which a dog 

 has been guilty of this wrong inten- 

 tionally. 



Senator Vest once dropped into 

 court in a little Missouri town, where 

 a man was suing a neighbor for shoot- 

 ing his dog. The lawyers for the 

 prosecution persuaded Senator Vest 

 to speak in behalf of their client, and 

 this is what he said: 



"Gentlemen of the Jury: The one 

 absolutely unselfish friend that man 

 can have in this selfish world, the one 

 that never deserts him, the one that 

 never proves ungrateful or treacher- 

 ous, is his dog. A man's dog stands 

 by him in prosperity and in poverty, 

 in health and in sickness. He will 

 sleep on the cold ground, where the 

 wintry winds blow and the snow 

 drives fiercely, if only he may be 

 near his master's side. He will kiss 

 the hand that has no food to offer. 

 He guards the sleep of his pauper 

 master as if he were a prince. When 

 all other friends desert he remains. 

 When riches take wings and reputa- 

 tion falls to pieces he is as constant 

 in his love as the sun in its journeys 

 through the heavens. 



"If fortune drives the master forth 

 an outcast in the world, friendless 

 and homeless, the faithful dog asks 

 no higher privilege than that of ac- 

 companying him, to guard him 

 against danger, to fight against his 

 enemies. And when the last scene of 

 all comes, and death takes the master 

 in its embrace, and his body is laid 

 away in the cold ground, no matter if 

 all other friends pursue their way, 

 there by the graveside will the noble 

 dog be found, his head between his 



