an lead the master to give to the
task, but they will cheerfully undergo almost any measure of privation
in order to protect their charges from harm. The annals of shepherd
districts, especially those where winter snows fall deeply, as in
Scotland, abound in anecdotes of a well-attested nature which show how
profoundly the dogs which tend the flocks are imbued with the love of
the animals committed to their care. This affection is more curious for
the reason that it is never in any measure returned by the sheep. To
them the custodian is ever a dreaded overseer. He seems to bring to them
nothing but the memories of danger derived from the experience which
their species acquired in far-away times.

It is very interesting to note the behavior of a young shepherd-dog when
he is first brought in contact with a flock. It is easy to see that he
has an amazingly keen interest in the sheep. He regards them with an
attention which he gives to no other living things, except perhaps his
master. Out of a litter of well-bred pups belonging to this variety, the
greater part will at once assume a curatorial attitude toward a flock.
They will show a disposition to keep them together, and will seize on
an individual only in case he undertakes to break away. They will
generally use no more force than is necessary to reduce the recalcitrant
to order. They arrest him by catching hold of the leg or fleece, and
rarely seize hold of the throat, which other dogs, led by their
inherited instincts, are apt at once to assail. Very rarely does a
shepherd-dog of good ancestry, even at the outset of his career, attack
a sheep in a way which shows that the ancient proclivities have been
revived in his spirit. Even then a little remonstrance, or at most a
slight castigation, is pretty sure to turn him from his evil ways. If we
could measure in some visible manner the psychic peculiarities of
animals, we would be led to regard this great change in the instincts of
the dog, which has been brought about by his use in herding, as perhaps
the most momentous transformation which man has ever accomplished in any
creature, including himself; for none of our own inherited savage traits
are so completely sublated at the time of our birth as is this old and
sometime dominant slaying motive in the shepherd-dog.

With the advancing differentiation of human occupations and amusements,
our breeds of dogs have, by more or less deliberate selection, been
developed unt