BEW-CIiAWS.] 



THE DOG, AN"© ITS VARIETIES; 



[the oollet. 



surface of the foot, and thus enable it to bear 

 up the animal in situations where it otherwise 

 would sink, iu the same manner as people fur- 

 nished with snow shoes can walk over snowy 

 surfaces, iu which, if they had not these means 

 of protection, they would sink kuee-deep. This 

 peculiarity is found wanting in all the coursing 

 dogs, and in all those which, in a state of 

 nature, find their prey upon the firm ground." 

 When we think of the sportsman walking 

 over, and the dew-clawed dog running over, 

 such bogs as are above alluded to, what reflec- 

 tions does the mind conjure up ! Who can 

 guess the secrets of the peat bog ? Who can 

 divine all that is buried beneath that sable 

 and partially heath-covered surface ? Far, far 

 down in its depths, and even beneath the thin 

 soil of the moor, lies hidden many a secret of 

 bygone days. Below the grim, ghastly surface, 

 the waters, and the black remnants of count- 

 less plants, lie the sad memorials of ages 

 unknown to tlie history of man. Huge trees 

 stand uprigiit, and their gigantic roots rest 

 upon the crowns of still older forest giants ! 

 In the inverted oaks of Murten Moor, in Swit- 

 zerland, many see the famous oak woods that 

 Charlemagne caused to be cut down, now more 

 than a thousand years ago. Tor centuries the 

 moors have concealed, in their silent bosoms, 

 the gigantic works of ancient Rome. Ear in 

 the deep, lie buried in stone, hatchets and flint 

 arrow-heads of Frisians and Cheruski, by the 

 side of the copper kettle and the iron helmet 

 of the Soman soldier. The skeletons of ante- 

 diluvian animals rest there peaceably by the 

 corpses of ancient races with sandals on their 

 feet, and skins of animals around their naked 

 bodies. Hundreds of brave English horsemen, 

 ■who sought an honourable death in the battle 

 of Sol way, were swallowed up, horse and man, 

 by the insatiable moor. In years bygone, a 

 Danish King Harold, called the Blue Tooth, 

 allured with foul treachery a fair princess of 

 Norway, Gunhildo, to Jutland. She came, 

 and she vanished from the memory of man. 

 History had forgotten her, tradition had even 

 began to fade; but the peat bog opened its 

 long-closed lips, and accused, late, but loud, the 

 bloody king, of this wicked deed. The poor 

 princess was found far below the peat, stran"-led 

 and tied to a post, where her merciless foe had 

 buried her, as he thought, for ever, in the abyss, 

 398 



THE COLLEY, OR SHEPHERD'S DOG. 



Of the sagacity and faithfulness of the shep- 

 herd's dog many interesting narratives are 

 current. It knows its master's flocks ; it will 

 single out a sheep under his direction, keep it 

 separate, or disengage it again from the rest of 

 the flock, should it regain or mingle with thera ; 

 it will keep two flocks apart, and, should they 

 become mixed, it will re-divide them. It will 

 watch and defend them from strange dogs or 

 foxes, and will drive them to any place required. 

 It is, in fact, the shepherd's friend and assistant; 

 it watches every look and every sign, is quick 

 in apprehension, prompt in obedience, and 

 pleased with its master's praise : and well does 

 he who tends his flocks on the wide pasture- 

 lands or mountain districts of our island, 

 appreciate the services and fidelity of his at- 

 tached ally. 



Mr. Hogg, known by his poetical soubriquet 

 of the "Ettrick Shepherd," has given us many 

 anecdotes of the sagacity of this dog ; and we 

 ourselves, in the hill districts of Scotland, have 

 seen many of them exhibit a degree of intelli- 

 gence almost human. 



He stands about twenty-one inches in height 

 at the shoulder; is very gracefully shaped; 

 ears half erect; muzzle pointed; coat long, but 

 fine and silky; tail and hams fringed with 

 hair; colour usually black and tan, or sandy 

 yellow ; but there are many black and white. 



In England the species is larger^ but, we 

 think, scarcely so active, and certainly by no 

 means so graceful, being destitute of tail. 

 This apparent defect in the structure of the 

 animal is not natural ; but is the effect of what 

 is termed "stringing," an operation performed 

 when the animal is young, and which consists 

 of pulling out the bone of the tail with the 

 teeth. This causes the fleshy portion of the 

 appendage to contract, until it becomes appa- 

 rently nothing more than a mere tuft of hair. 

 It is said that dogs thus denuded endure more 

 fatigue than wheu in possession of their tails. 



Both in Scotland and England the breed of 

 the sheep-dogs is preserved with the greatest at- 

 tention to purity. The Arab has scarcely greater 

 afiection for iiis horse than the Scottish shep- 

 herd has for his dog. As the one is the con- 

 stant companion of the wanderer in the desert, 

 so is the other the constant companion of the 



