CHAPTER XVI 

 THE COLLIES 



THE origin and history of the Scotch Collie as a distinct breed are 

 still unsolved questions. There are no solid facts to base even a 

 theory upon, and, as in the case of many other dogs, we are left to 

 conjecture. 



Professor Low, in " Domesticated Animals of the British 

 Islands," says that the Terrier of the Highlands was anciently the 

 shepherd's dog ; and the Rev. Dr. Alexander Stewart says that the 

 Collie is " the old indigenous dog of the British Islands," and claims 

 for it the honour of being at once the Deerhound, Otter-hound, 

 Sealdog, Terrier, and shepherd's dog of the Scottish Gaels. Fingal's 

 dog Bran, he says, was "just an exceptionally strong and intelligent 

 Collie ; nor would it be easy to persuade me that the faithful Argus 

 of Ulysses, in far-off Ithaca, three thousand years ago, was other 

 than a genuine Collie of the same breed as the Fingalians more than 

 a thousand years afterwards in the hunting-grounds of mediaeval 

 Scotland and Ireland," who therefore, of course, are to be considered 

 as identical with the Collie of to-day. 



If we take Dr. Stewart's opinions as seriously meant, we can only 

 reflect that the learned doctor, like many other worthy men, shows 

 national predilection. Enlarged currency was given to Dr. Stewart's 

 views by the substance of his contribution appearing afterwards as 

 a leader in the Daily News, and that again being reproduced by 

 the Fancier? Gazette. If Professor Low is correct, the "ancient 

 shepherds" of the Highlands exhibited less judgment than they are 

 proverbially credited with when they resorted to Terriers to look 

 after their flocks, especially as, according to Dr. Stewart, they 

 possessed the real Simon Pure Collie. 



The more likely theory with regard to the Collie's origin is that 

 the dog is the result of selection carried on through a long series of 

 years. There has been an attempt made by writers to circumscribe 

 the national character of this dog by calling him the Highland 

 Collie, as though he were peculiar to the North of Scotland. There 

 appears to be even less justification for this than for calling the 

 Old English Black-and-tan Terrier the Manchester Terrier, for 



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