Author's Preface 



there; and all day long, till far Into the night, 

 he passes to and fro among the pill-rollers, 

 who are attracted from every quarter by the 

 reek of the victuals strewn by his Sheep. 

 Well-posted in the various points of my 

 entomological problems, he watches events 

 and keeps me informed. He awaits his op- 

 portunity; he inspects the grass. With his 

 knife he lays bare the subterranean cell 

 which is betrayed by its little mound of earth; 

 he scrapes, digs and finds; and it all con- 

 stitutes a glorious change from his vague 

 pastoral musings. 



Ah, what splendid mornings we spend to- 

 gether, in the cool of the day, seeking the 

 nest of the Scarab or the Copris ! Old Sul- 

 tan is there, seated on some knoll or other 

 and keeping an autocratic eye upon the 

 fleecy rabble. Nothing, not even the crust 

 which a friend holds out to him, distracts 

 his attention from his exalted functions. 

 Certainly he is not much to look at, with his 

 tangled black coat, soiled with the thousands 

 of seeds which have caught in it. He is not 

 a handsome Dog, but what a lot of sense 

 there is in his shaggy head, what a talent 

 for knowing exactly what is permitted and 

 what forbidden, for perceiving the absence 

 of some heedless one forgotten behind a dip 



XX 



