A COLLIE IN THE DESERT 145 



commanding collie voice rose above the concert 

 and brought a listening silence to the night. 

 The cowboy told me that Jack had been living 

 with the coyotes of this locality most of the time 

 for a number of years, and that he had seen inter- 

 esting glimpses of the dog's curious, misfit 

 life. 



While circling the scattered herd one day the 

 cowboy had come upon five or six young calves, 

 separated from the herd. A coyote and the 

 collie came along without seeing him. The 

 collie stopped and walked about the calves as 

 though personally interested. The coyote 

 watched Jack, plainly puzzled. Jack, too, was 

 puzzled. His instincts probably called him to 

 duty, yet just what this duty was apparently was 

 not clear to him. I judge that his mental proc- 

 esses must have been: "Here are stray calves. 

 It seems to me I ought to do something with 

 them, but what ?" Apparently he was confused, 

 and finally lay down and watched the calves for a 

 long time. At last he slunk away as though con- 

 scious of being unfaithful to a trust or shirking 

 a duty. He turned to look back several times, 

 always as though he was ashamed to have left 

 the calves and half inclined to go back to guard 

 them. 



Once Jack and a coyote came upon a sheep 

 herder. On seeing the flock and the herder 



