6 Wild Life in Wales 



of specimens could scarcely find a better hunting ground 

 than Merionethshire, and as a consequence her farmers 

 ought to add materially to their sources of revenue. 



In walking over the mountains one morning I came upon 

 a little knot of men, gathered about a farm-place, whose 

 actions rather roused my curiosity. One of them carried 

 a very rusty fire-lock, which he promptly hid behind 

 him upon my appearance, while another led a sheep-dog 

 by a light cord, not at all an unusual sight in these parts. 

 I suspected poaching, or perhaps some raid on a fox earth, 

 and attempted to enter into conversation, but was met with 

 only head-shakes, and seeing my presence was not desired, 

 I walked on. Near the shoulder of the hill, however, 

 I halted and, under cover of some bushes, turned my 

 glasses upon the group. Presently the dog was led a 

 little way up the hill, and its cord made fast to a stone, 

 while the man with the gun shot at it from a distance 

 of five or ten paces. The dog was evidently freely 

 " P e pp ere d," and yelled piteously, straining frantically at 

 its tether ; the gun meanwhile was being re-charged with 

 all despatch. At the next shot the dog broke the cord, 

 and fled, yelping, down the hill, followed by a volley of 

 stones and much shouting. Later on, I learned that there 

 had been some sheep worrying, and that a sort of drumhead 

 court had been held on a suspected dog, and what I saw 

 was the execution of the sentence, this being the usual 

 method of "warning off" a dog against whom there was 

 not sufficient evidence to justify hanging, the gun being 

 loaded with small gravel, " dust," or even grain. 



The excellence of Welsh mutton is too well known to be 

 in any need of a testimonial at my hands ; but the fore- 

 going digression on collies may not inappropriately be 

 followed by some reference to the Sheep they tend. 

 Merioneth is essentially a breeding county, and annually 

 despatches the increase of her flocks to the autumn markets. 

 About the beginning of October, droves of sheep, several 

 thousands strong, pass regularly through Llanuwchllyn on 

 their way to Denbigh. They are the produce of many 

 different farms, bought up some weeks previously by 



