410 THE COLLET A DEAWBACK. 



CoUey dogs. It seems the master of the bitch purchased at 

 a fair some eighty sheep, and having occasion to stay a day 

 longer, sent them forward and directed his faithful CoUey to 

 drive them home, a distance of about seventeen miles. The 

 poor bitch when a few miles on the road dropped two whelps ; 

 but faithful to her charge, she drove the sheep a mile or two 

 farther — then allowing them to stop, she returned for her 

 pups, which she carried some two mUes in advance of the 

 sheep, and thus she continued to do, alternately carrying her 

 own young ones, and taking charge of the flock, till she 

 reached home. The manner of her acting on this occasion 

 was gathered by the shepherd from various persons who had 

 observed her on the road. On reaching and delivering her 

 chai'ge, it was found the two pups were dead. In this 

 extremity the instinct of the poor brute was yet more remark- 

 able ; for, going immediately to a rabbit brae in the vicinity, 

 she dug out of the earth two young rabbits, which she deposited 

 on some straw in a barn, and continued to suckle them for 

 some time, until they were unluckily killed by one of the farm 

 tenants. It should be mentioned that the next day she set off 

 to the place where she left her master, whom she met 

 returning when about thirteen miles from hom^." 



I have to make a sad draw-back on these statements. It is 

 well known in the region of New York where I reside, and 

 where the CoUey dog is quite common, that it is sometimes — 

 under the instruction of vicious associates perhaps — taught 

 in its youth to kill sheep : and when this occurs, it is pro- 

 verbial that the sheep has no other so fell and destructive 

 canine enemy. Its extreme activity, and the keenness of its 

 bite, causes a wholesale slaughter. Two dogs of this kind 

 killed eight Merino ewes for me this year, and had they not 

 fortunately been detected at the outset of their attack, they 

 would soon probably have added fifty to the number of their 

 victims. When first seen they were darting about, biting 

 one sheep after another — a single touch of their teeth being 

 apparently sufficient to strip off half the skin — as if they 

 were committing the havoc solely for their amusement, and 

 were prompted neither by hunger nor thirst. Indeed, I 

 ascertained from their owners that they had both been well 

 fed within an hour of the time of their entering the flock. 

 They were moreover habitually well fed dogs, and were in 

 excellent case. I think the mongrel Colley learns to kill 

 sheep as readily as a cur ; but whether this is true of the pure 

 blood dog, I am not prepared to say. 



