THE DROVER'S DOG. 183 



which is also smooth in coat. He is said to resemble his rough 

 brother in all other respects, but certainly the numerous specimens 

 I have seen are without the foxy characteristics in any marked 

 degree. You cannot say wherei the difference is, for it is so slight 

 as to elude all measurements but those of the eye. Under this 

 delicate organ, however, the experienced judge of animals detects 

 a difference in appearance which the ordinary observer would 

 probably pass over. The head is not so wedge-shaped. The nose 

 is not so straight, and the eyes, if not set in a straight line, are 

 very slightly oblique. 



The coat differs in being short, hard, and quite smooth. 



The colour is generally a mottled grey mixed with white, but 

 some celebrated breeds are black and tan ; occasionally it is 

 tan and white. 



The numerical value of the points is the same as in the rough 

 collie. 



III.— THE DROVER'S DOG. 



In the different grazing counties of England dogs of all sizes 

 and types are employed to drive cattle, most of which are tail- 

 less either by nature or art. There is no doubt that in certain 

 strains of the pointer, as well as the sheep and drover's dog, the 

 tail is absent beyond one or two vertebrae. Such a malformation 

 is now very rare in the pointer, and nearly as much so in the 

 sheep-dog, and has become so pari passu with the cessation of 

 the custom of artificial docking. In my young days a pointer 

 with a full tail was never seen, the reason given for the mutila- 

 tion being that, if left entire, the dog would lash it to pieces, and, 

 moreover, would disturb his game by the noise he made with it. 

 in the high stubbles of those days. So with the sheep-dog : the 



