CH. XXXV. SHEEP-DOGS. 255 



herd's exertions, be everywhere, anywhere, nowhere : 

 we should have to give up eating mutton, or to 

 stalk and shoot the sheep like red deer. This is 

 not a fanciful assertion, but would absolutely be the 

 case. The very great sagacity of these dogs in 

 their own line of business is perfectly astonishing ; 

 and I have frequently given up an hour or two of 

 my grouse shooting to watch the manoeuvres of a 

 shepherd and his dogs, and have thought the time 

 well bestowed. 



Some of the breeds of the Scotch sheep-dog have 

 a very strong resemblance to the wolf, so much so 

 as to lead one to adopt the theory that the domestic 

 dog, notwithstanding all its varieties of size, shape, 

 and disposition, is derived originally from this 

 animal. The wild dogs of Africa and India, who 

 in packs hunt down the larger wild animals, and 

 are said to worry to death even the lion and tiger, 

 are adduced as disproving this supposition. But 

 these wild dogs do not appear to be the indigenous 

 and native denizens of the wilderness, but to have 

 originated from domestic dogs who, having become 

 ownerless, had turned wild. Although we all know- 

 that the wolf can seldom be tamed, some few well- 

 authenticated instances prove that this animal some- 

 times entirely throws aside its natural bloodthirsty 

 disposition. In the Edinburgh Zoological Gardens 



