CATTLE AND SHEEP. 23 



One word of advice to our southern friends who rent 

 Scotch moors for grouse-shooting: keep on good terms 

 with the shepherds. With a little encouragement, a collie 

 dog will find every grouse-nest on the moor. A dinner 

 for the shepherds, with whisky in moderation, followed by 

 tea and a dance for their wives and daughters, are among 

 the cheapest and most effectual modes of moorland game- 

 keeping. " Experto crede" * 



We hardly know how to apologise for this wild digres- 

 sion ; but we must recall our thoughts from their wander- 

 ings, and return to more homely matters. Having spoken 

 of Short-horns, Devons, Herefords, and Highlanders, we 

 should be unjust if we passed altogether without notice 

 the great improvement which has taken place in the last 

 thirty years in Irish cattle. Though large in amount, it 

 has not been in any uniform direction. As far as we 

 know, there is still neither a race nor a breed of cattle in 

 Ireland. We have heard of Kerry cows, and we know 

 there are cows in Kerry ; but, though rather extensively 

 versed in cattle, we have no idea what a Kerry cow is, as 

 distinguished from any other mongrel. The improvement 



' * We wish that some competent classical authority may be able to 

 assure us that in the Odyssey, 14th Book, lines 24 and 26, the words 



" Oi Se ST/ aAAoi," " Ot rpeis," and u rov Se Teraprov" refer to the *wes 



reWapes which are mentioned only two lines before ; and not, as 

 some commentators suppose, to four assistant swineherds, who have not 

 been previously mentioned at all. The latter interpretation receives 

 some colour from the number of portions into which the supper was 

 divided, which favours the idea that the number of Eumseus' assistant 

 herds was four. Still, however, we are inclined to hope and believe 

 that Homer spoke of the dogs. It is curious to find that the ancients 

 were so well aware of the refined education which the canine race are 

 capable of receiving, that the poet could, without comment, represent 

 that Eumseus had sent a dog, alone, to take a fat pig from his country 

 station to the city, where, for very good reasons, he was somewhat 

 chary of trusting himself. In the "Y^i/os eis 'Ep^i/, Apollo's cows were 

 committed to the sole custody of four dogs, 



" ijvre (Jxores bfj.6(j>poves" 



equivalent to the saying of our South Country hinds, " he's as 'cute as a 

 Christian." We knew an old Whig lord, who, during the long Tory 

 rule, always said of his favourite dog, " He has more sense than any of 

 our ministers." 



