278 NATURAL HISTORY READER. 



very quickly, and yet without hurrying them too much, 

 for he is very careful not to do them any harm ; and his 

 barking, although sharp, is not angry, nor do the sheep 

 seem to think so, or to be in the least degree alarmed, for 

 they also have profited by experience, and they know him 

 and his ways. 



7. Let the object of the shepherd be to get sheep 

 through a gate : the dog evidently perceives it at once, and 

 knows what to do — to bark behind the sheep, to run before 

 them and bark, to drive them to the gate, and to prevent 

 their passing it. More remarkable still, and most decid- 

 edly an evidence of the possession of reason, is the fact that 

 a good shepherd's dog will assist a sheep to rise when it has 

 fallen, rolled over on its back, and can not get up again, 

 because, in consequence of its thick fleece, it can not get a 

 foot to the ground. This often happens, especially on 

 hill-pastures, in the latter part of spring and beginning of 

 summer, before the sheep-shearing time, and the shepherd 

 must visit his flock several times a day, lest the sheep that 

 have rolled over on their backs should die. But his dog 

 saves him much walking and fatigue, scouring over the hill 

 for him, and, as soon as he finds a sheep on its back, pro- 

 ceeding to turn it over with his muzzle, till it gets its feet 

 to the ground so that it is able to rise. 



8. The shepherd's dog, or, at all events, the collie of 

 the south of Scotland, which I take to be the most refined 

 and cultivated breed of shepherd's dog, shows himself also 

 very sensible of affront, and vexed by it. He has a ready 

 appetite for oat-cakes — oatmeal in one form or other, but 

 mostly in that of porridge, being a chief part of his food, 

 as it is of his master's ; and he will at any time gladly re- 

 ceive a little bit of oat-cake ; but let any one hold out to 

 him a very large piece, and he evidently thinks it a cruel 

 jest, feels himself insulted, turns away his head, and will 

 not look at the cake, far less accept it. We know of no 



