THE COLLIE, OR SHEPHERD'S DOa 13 



went " four," and at word of command commenced to play. 

 She led off with the king of diamonds (trumps of which I 

 had two) — one trick to her ; then followed with the ten of 

 trumps, on which I played the six — two tricks to her. She 

 then led with the queen of clubs, which I took with the 

 ace, and led spades, which were trumped (three to her), 

 and played up the eight of clubs, thus making the four 

 tricks with the adroitness of an expert player. Five hands 

 in all were played, four of which she won. Her master 

 then placed in a circle about forty of the cards and re- 

 quested me to call for my card, which theanimal promptly 

 picked up with unerring accuracy. I called for over 

 twenty cards, and not a mistake did she make. Thinking 

 she identified them by some motion or sign from the owner, 

 I requested him to turn his back upon us, but to my 

 amazement with the same result as before. Performance 

 number three was the most difficult of all. This was the 

 three-card trick, or finding the lady; but this time the 

 cards were turned face downwards, and Scott found them 

 three out of four tries.' 



There is a good anecdote of a collie dog that could 

 count. Old Fetch was a shepherd dog and lived in the 

 Highlands. His master kept a dozen cows, who ranged at 

 will among the hills. When the sun was low his master 

 would say to his dog, ' Bring the cows home.' One day he 

 departed as usual on his evening task, and he gathered all 

 the cattle, as usual, into the mountain road leading to the 

 barn-yard. A part of the road ran through a low moist 

 spot, bordered by a thicket, and into this one of the cows 

 pushed her way and stood quietly ; the others passed on, 

 followed some distance in the rear by Fetch. As the cows 

 filed through the gate Fetch seemed very uneasy, and he 

 whined and growled till he attracted his master's attention. 

 Then he went to the high fence round the yard, and standing 

 on his hind feet peered between two of the rails. After 

 looking at the herd carefully for a time he started off down 

 the road again in full run. His master now observed that 

 one of the cows was missing, and he sat down on a rock 



