Poaching Collies 235 



of grace that these notes must chiefly treat, and amongst 

 these ought almost to be included Canis familiaris, var. 

 predatorius ; for, from mountain top to lowland cors, almost 

 no spot is exempt from their investigations during the 

 stilly hours when their masters are a-bed. Sometimes they 

 were encountered singly, but more often in couples, and, in 

 either case, it was interesting to note how nearly their 

 actions were governed by the wild instinct of a remote 

 ancestry. Under ordinary circumstances, a Collie is never 

 backward in challenging the presence of a stranger with his 

 tongue ; but when surprised upon the prowl, he is about as 

 likely to call attention to himself in that way as would be a 

 hill Fox ; nor are the visual and olfactory organs of that 

 animal much quicker in detecting an undesirable presence. 

 Honest master collie has too much respect for his good 

 name to tamely await recognition under circumstances which 

 might cast a doubt upon his bond fides ; and, when surprised 

 upon a hunting expedition, slings himself behind the nearest 

 available cover, and thence homeward at his best paces, with 

 as much agility as most wild animals. One near the top of 

 Bwlch-y-groes was evidently hunting Field Voles, and I 

 suspect that these troublesome rodents are frequently a chief 

 source of attraction for a midnight prowl ; but, nathless, 

 one cannot wonder much at the Welsh keeper's frequent 

 complaint that there are too many dogs on his beat, or that 

 they are not kept at home enough, to allow him to show as 

 large a head of game as he might do. 



The note that most fittingly voices the murk, in the Dyfi 

 valley, is that of the White Owl, or Dylluan wen, of which 

 numbers of recently fledged young were on the wing at the 

 time of my visit. Some of them, doubtless attracted by the 

 supply of voles, were met with on the bare hillsides, far 

 away from trees of any kind ; but it was naturally in the 

 wooded valleys that the wheezing of the young, and the 

 scritches and snorings of the adults were most in evidence. 

 One of them impersonated a ghost very cleverly for me at 

 Mallwyd, no doubt a not unfamiliar r61e, as the present 

 worthy representative of the family to be mentioned 

 presently told me that one of his ancestors commonly 



