28 KRIDER'S SPORTING ANECDOTES. 



How faithfully, how completely, he fulfils the 

 duties of a guardian, the reader is, doubtless, 

 well aware. In the vast fazendas, or cattle 

 estates, of southern Brazil, where the flocks have 

 a multitude of enemies, two dogs are considered 

 sufficient to shepherd a thousand sheep. But 

 these dogs, as soon as whelped, are suckled by 

 a ewe ; no food is given to them ; at night they 

 are shut up in the fold; during the day they 

 accompany the flock to the field ; and when full 

 grown, instinctively assume the office of its 

 guardian and protector. While the flock is 

 grazing, the vigilance of the guardian, directed 

 alike against the hordes of wild dogs, which 

 infest the plains, and the birds of prey, which 

 pick out the eyes of the lambs, is argus-eyed 

 and unceasing. When a ewe lambs in the 

 field, and the lamb is too weak to follow its 

 mother, one dog will remain for some time beside 

 it; if he finds that it is still unable to walk, as 

 evening draws near, he carefully takes it in his 

 mouth and carries it home to the fold. 



They have the same wild and melancholy 

 aspect, and the same indisposition to associate 

 with strange dogs, which distinguishes the shep- 

 herd's dog of the Alps and the Pyrenees. 



Here the naturalist has a grand picture for 

 contemplation and study, for here we have ex- 



