Rough-Coated Collie 349 



as we also did her sister, Floss, who died within a few days of her arrival 

 in New York, when heavy in whelp to Mr. Boddington's Rob Roy Mc- 

 Gregor. 



The article on old-time collies is as follows: 



MR. WHEELER ON THE HISTORY OF THE COLLIE 



"That the strains of the majority of the early progenitors of our collies, 

 whose pedigrees are in obscurity, emanated from Scotland, and that their 

 blood is traceable to the pure working sheep dog, there is no reason to 

 doubt. When the breed became fashionable as household pets, and classes 

 were provided for them in dog shows, undoubtedly many of the most 

 handsome specimens were obtained from the north region, and so supplied 

 the material that founded the Warwickshire strain, which, in a great measure, 

 forms the basis of the pedigrees of all collies that have any pretensions to 

 prize-winning qualifications. 



"About the year 1860 classes were first provided for sheep dogs at the 

 Birmingham Show, and at the show in 1863 the entries numbered six only. 

 However, the entries steadily increased until they reached as many as 

 forty-five at the show held in Birmingham in 1874, and it was about this 

 era that breeding for show points started in earnest, more especially as 

 applied to Birmingham and the surrounding district, the principal breeders 

 being Mr. M. C. Ashwin, Mr. J. Bissell, Mr. W. A. Walker, Mr. D. Tomlin- 

 son, Messrs. W. H. and J. Charles, and the writer. 



"At this period collies were to be seen of almost every imaginable 

 colour buff, red, mottle of various shades, not many sables; but the 

 commonest of all colours were black, tan and white, black and white (without 

 tan), and what are now called blue merle but were then known as tortoise- 

 shell. 



"Of the names of the old progenitors, the first to claim attention is 

 Old Cockie, a grand dog, who in his day had no compeer, although occasion- 

 ally in the show ring he had to give way to his inferiors. Besides being 

 a handsome show dog, he had the reputation of being a capital worker with 

 sheep. 



"Old Cockie was born in the year 1867, and was the winner of upward 

 of forty prizes, including firsts and cups at Birmingham and Nottingham 

 two years in succession, the Border Counties' Champion Cup at Carlisle, 



