22 The Collie or Sheep Dog. 



something else altogether, for in Ireland the loach, a small 

 bearded fish, which lives mostly under the stones, a capital 

 bait for salmon, is known as the " colley," and always talked 

 of as such. Again, in hawking, a hawk is said "to colly " 

 when she stretches out her neck straight forward ; and 

 there is the same word in a different meaning, as "to 

 colly" to embrace round the neck. Still this word in its 

 commonest use means to darken or blacken. A friend of 

 mine says that about sixty years ago in Northamptonshire 

 there lived a man who bore the nickname of " Colly/' a 

 nom de plume arising from his peculiarly dark complexion 

 and his coal-black hair. Thus it will be seen that our dog 

 has in this case obtained more than his just rights, and 

 the poor black-faced Scotch sheep with its "coarse wool- 

 like hairs " is robbed of its somewhat euphonious, if 

 comparatively obsolete name. 



Hugh Dalziel, in his monograph on the breed, alludes to 

 the passage in Chaucer, where "Coll, our dog" occurs, and 

 believes it may be in reference to the colour of the animal. 

 There is no reason to suppose that " Coll " was anything 

 but the name of the dog, as "Jack " or " Gyp " might have 

 been. Nor is it at all likely that the word was derived 

 from the "col," already alluded to, as " embracing round the 

 neck," because in many cases modern collies have had 

 and still have a stretch of broad white hairs round their 

 necks white collars, in fact. St. Bernards have these 

 white collars much more pronounced, and in this large 

 variety of the dog a specimen is not considered perfect 

 without such a distinguishing mark with a white blaze down 

 the face. 



I think I have produced sufficient evidence to prove how 

 the word collie, as applied to the shepherd's dog, came 



