THE COLLIE 217 



1835, describing his dog SirraK in Blackwaod's 

 Magazine, said : " He was beyond all comparison 

 the best dog I ever saw. He had a somewhat surly 

 and unsocial temper, disdaining all flattery, and re- 

 fusing to be caressed^; but his attention to my com- 

 mands and interest will never, again be equalled by 

 any of the canine race. When I first saw him, a 

 drofer was leading him b'y a rope. He was both 

 lean and hungry, and far from being a beautiful 

 animal for he was almost black, and had a grim 

 face, striped with dark brown. I thought I perceived 

 a sort of sullen intelligence in his countenance, not- 

 withstanding his dejected and forlorn appearance, and 

 I bought him. He was scarcely a year old, and knew 

 so little of herding that he had never turned a sheep 

 in his life ; but as soon as he discovered that it was 

 his duty, and that it obliged me, I can never forget 

 with what anxiety and eagerness he learned his dif- 

 ferent evolutions, and when I once made him under- 

 stand a direction he never forgot or mistook it." 

 As an instance of the sagacity of this dog, Hogg 

 relates that one night the flock he was driving 

 scampered away in three different directions under 

 the impulse of fright. In the darkness Sirrah set 

 off after the fugitives, and when daylight dawned it 

 was found that he had collected all in a deep ravine . 

 In dealing with the modern history of the variety 

 we are on comparatively safe ground. It was in the 

 early eighties that matters became lively in the Collie 

 world, and when the boom' once set in most remark- 

 able prices were realised. The late Mr. G. R. Krehl 

 paid 100 for the eleven months old "Eclipse," 

 a son of the famous " Charlemagne.'* As the puppy 

 was unnoticed by the judge at the Birmingham Show, 



