WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 



less at the rats' holes when the ferrets were in, and as the 

 ratcatcher told me, he was the best dog^ of them all, and al- 

 ways to be depended on for showing if a rat was in a hole, 

 corn-stack, or elsewhere; never giving a false alarm, or 

 failing to give a true one. The moment, however, that he 

 saw me, he instantly cut his humble friends, and denied all 

 acquaintance with them in the most comical manner. 



The shepherds' dogs in the mountainous districts often 

 show the mostwonderful instinct in assistingtheir masters, 

 who, without their aid, would have but little command over 

 a large flock of wild black-faced sheep. It is a most inter- 

 esting sight to see a clever dog turn a large flock of these 

 sheep in whichever direction his master wishes, taking ad- 

 vantage of the ground, and making a wide sweep to get 

 round the sheep without frightening them, till he gets be- 

 yond them, and then rushing barking from flank to flank 

 of the flock, and bringing them all up in close array to the 

 desired spot. When, too, the shepherd wishes to catch a 

 particular sheep out of the flock, 1 have seen him point it 

 out to the dog, who would instantly distinguish it from the 

 rest, and follow it up till he caught it. Often I have seen the 

 sheep rush into the middle of theflock, but the dog, though 

 he must necessarily have lost sight of it amongst the rest, 

 would immediately single it out again, and never leave the 

 pursuit till he had the sheep prostrate, but unhurt, under 

 his feet. I have been withashepherdwhen he has consigned 

 a certain part of his flock to a dog to be driven home, the 

 man accompanying me farther on to the hill. On our return 

 we invariably found that he had either given up his charge 

 to the shepherd's wife or some other responsible person, or 



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