26 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



traversed every neighboring hill in anxious but 

 fruitless search for tlie lambs; but he could hear 

 nothing of them nor of the dog, and he was return- 

 ing to his master with the doleful intelligence that 

 he had lost all his lambs. "On our way home, 

 however," says he, "we discovered a lot of lambs 

 at the bottom of a deep ravine called the Flesh 

 Cleuch, and the indefatigable Sirrah standing in 

 front of them, looking round for some relief, but 

 still true to his charge. We concluded that it was 

 one of the divisions which Sirrah had been unable 

 to manage, until he came to that commanding sit- 

 uation. But what was our astonishment when we 

 discovered that not one lamb of the flock was miss- 

 ing ! How he had got all the divisions collected 

 in the dark, is beyond my comprehension. The 

 charge was left entirely to himself from midnight 

 until the rising sun; and, if all the shepherds in the 

 forest had been there to have assisted him, they 

 could not have effected it with greater prompti- 

 tude. All that I can say is, that I never felt so 

 grateful to any creature under the sun as I did to 

 my honest Sirrah that morning." 



A she.pherd, in one of his excursions over the 

 Grampian Hills to collect his scattered flock, took 

 with him (as is a frequent practice, to initiate them 

 in their future business) one of his children about 

 four years old. After traversing his pastures for 

 a while, attended by hisjdog, he was compelled to 

 ascend a simimit at some distance. As the ascent 

 was too great for the child, he left him at the bot- 

 tom, with strict injunctions not to move from the 

 place. Scarcely, however, had he gained the 

 height, when one of the Scotch mists, of frequent 

 occurrence, suddenly came on, and almost changed 

 the day to night. He returned to seek his child, 

 but was unable to find him, and concluded a long 

 and fruitless search by coming distracted to his cot- 

 tage. His poor dog also was missing in the gen- 

 eral confusion. On the next morning by daylight 

 he renewed his search, but again he came back 

 without his child. He found, however, that dur- 

 ing his absence his dog had been home, and, on 

 receiving his allowance of food, instantly departed, 

 For four successive days the shepherd continued 

 his search with the same bad fortune, the dog as 

 readily coming for his meal and departing. Struck 

 by this singular circumstance, he determined to 

 follow the dog, who departed as usual with his 

 piece of cake. The animal led the way to a cata- 

 ract at some distance from the spot where the child 

 had been left. It was a rugged and almost perpen- 

 dicular descent which the dog took, and he disap- 

 peared in a cave, the mouth of which was almost 

 on a level with the torrent. The shepherd with 

 difficulty followed; but, on entering the cavern, 

 what were his emotions when he beheld the infant 

 eating the cake which the dog had just brought to 

 him, while the faithful animal stood by, eyeing his 

 young charge with the utmost complacency ! From 

 the situation in which the child was found, it ap- 

 peared that he had wandered to the brink of the 

 precipice, and then either fallen or scrambled down, 

 tlie torrent preventing his re-ascent. The dog by 

 means of his scent had traced him to the spot, and 

 afterwards prevented him from starving by giving 

 up a part, or, perhaps, the whole of his own daily 

 allowance. He appears never to have quitted the 

 child night or day, e.xcept for food, as he was seen 

 running at full speed to and from the cottage. 



Mr. Hogg says, and very truly, that a single 



shepherd and his dog will accomplish more in 

 gathering a flock of sheep from a Highland farm 

 than twenty shepherds could do without dogs; in 

 fact, that without this docile animal, the pastoral 

 life would be a mere blank. It would require more 

 hands to manage a flock of sheep, gather them from 

 the hills, force them into houses and folds, and 

 drive them to markets, than the profits of the whole 

 flock would be capable of maintaining. Well may 

 the shepherd feel an interest in his dog; he it is 

 indeed that earns the family bread, of which he is 

 himself content with the smallest morsel: always 

 grateful, and always ready to exert his utmost abil- 

 ities in his master's interests. Neither hunger, 

 fatigue, nor the worst treatment, will drive him from 

 his side, and he will follow him through every 

 hardship without murmuring or repining. If one 

 of them is obliged to change masters, it is some- 

 times long before he will acknowledge the new 

 owner, or condescend to work for him with the 

 willingness that he did for his former lord; but, if 

 he once acknowledges him, he continues attached 

 to him until death. 



We will add another story of the colley, and 

 proceed. It illustrates the memory of the dog. A 

 shepherd was employed in bringing up soms moun- 

 tain sheep fiom Westmoreland, and took with him 

 a young sheep dog who had never made the jour- 

 ney before. From his assistant being ignorant of 

 the ground, he experienced great difficulty in hav- 

 ing the flock slopped at the various roads and lanes 

 he passed in their way to London. 



In the next year the same shepherd, accompa- 

 nied by the same dog, brought up another flock 

 for the gentleman who had had the former one. 

 On being questioned how he had got on, he said 

 much better than the year before, as his dog now 

 knew the road, and had kept the sheep from go- 

 ing up any of the lanes or turnings that had giv- 

 en the shepherd so much trouble on his former 

 journey. The distance could not have been less 

 than 400 miles. 



Buflx>n gives an eloquent and faithful account of 

 the sheep dog: "This animal, faithful to man, 

 will always preserve a portion of his empire and a 

 degree of superiority over other beings. He reigns 

 at the head of his flock, and makes himself better 

 understood than the voice of the shepherd. Safe- 

 ty, order, and discipline are the fruits of his vigi- 

 lance and activity. They are a people submitted 

 to his management, whom he conducts and protects, 

 and against whom he never employs force but for 

 the preservation of good order. If we consider that 

 this animal, notwithstanding his ugliness and his 

 wild and melancholy look, is superior in instinct 

 to all others; that he has a decided character in 

 which education has comparatively little share ; 

 that he is the only animal born perfectly trained 

 for the service of others; that, guided by natural 

 powers alone, he applies himself to the care of our 

 flocks, a duty which he executes with singular as- 

 siduity, vigilance, and fidelity; that he conducts 

 them with an admirable intelligence which is a 

 part and portion of himself; that his sagacity as- 

 tonishes at the same time that it gives repose to his 

 master, while it requires great time and trouble to 

 instruct other dogs for the purposes to which they 

 are destined: if we reflect on these facts we shall 

 be confirmed in the opinion that the shepherd's 

 dog is the true dog of nature, the stock and model 

 of the whole species," 



