CH. XXXV. SHEEP-DOGS. 255 



sheep-dogs the sheep would, in spite of all the 

 shepherd's exertions, be everywhere, anywhere, 

 nowhere: we should have to give up eating mutton, 

 or to stalk and shoot the sheep like red -deer. 

 This is not a fanciful assertion, but would abso- 

 lutely be the case. The very great sagacity of 

 these dogs in their own line of business is per- 

 fectly astonishing ; and I have frequently given 

 up an hour or two of my grouse-shooting to watch 

 the manoeuvres of a shepherd and his dogs, and 

 have thought the time well bestowed. 



Some of the breeds of the Scotch sheep-dog have 

 a very strong resemblance to the wolf, so much so 

 as to lead one to adopt the theory that the domestic 

 dog, notwithstanding all its varieties of size, shape, 

 and disposition, is derived originally from this 

 animal. The wild-dogs of Africa and India, who 

 in packs hunt down the larger wild animals, and 

 are said to worry to death even the lion and tiger, 

 are adduced as disproving this supposition. But 

 these wild-dogs do not appear to be the indigenous 

 and native denizens of the wilderness, but to have 

 originated from domestic dogs who, having become 

 ownerless, had turned wild. Although we all know 

 that the wolf can seldom be tamed, some few well- 

 authenticated instances prove that this animal 

 sometimes entirely throws aside its natural blood- 



