THE COLLIE. 181 



The chest is required to be of sufficient volume for the play of 

 lungs and heart, but to secure the shoulders of the requisite form 

 it must not be barrel-like, nor should it be keel-shaped to the 

 full extent, or it will strike against inequalities of the ground. 



The loin must be muscular for the hill-work it has to do, and 

 a slightly arched one is particularly suited to it. Deep back ribs 

 are not required for this kind of strength, but they also indicate 

 the hardy constitution absolutely necessary for the sheep-dog. 



The legs must have no weak point anywhere. Elbows should 

 be strong, well let down and set on straight. Stifles and hocks 

 large, powerful, and clean. Arms muscular as well as long, and 

 knees wide, and not with too much bend backwards, though, as in 

 the foxhound, I object to a very upright pastern. This last must 

 be of large bone and tendon. The hind-legs often have a double 

 dew-claw, but this is sometimes entirely absent. 



The feet are hare-like, with strongly arched toes and horny 

 pads. 



The coat in the true breed is very characteristic, somewhat 

 shaggy, and very thick in its long hair, and with a woolly under- 

 coat which becomes visible on separating the outer one. Eound 

 the neck is a remarkable frill or ruffi which seems to have been 

 recently copied by the ladies by means of the fur capes which 

 have come into fashion with the collie. On the upper side there 

 is not nearly so long a development of this frill, which is, how- 

 ever, nearly as long at the sides as below. The fore-legs have a 

 little feather on them, the less the better ; but the hind ones are 

 quite bare. 



The colour' is black and tan, or either of these colours alone, 

 more or less mixed with white. When black and tan, the two 

 colours occupy their usual positions on the face as well as the 

 legs and body. The black, except in the Gordon cross, is seldom 



