This appears to be quite a distinct variety of pronounced type, but confusion appears to have arisen in the minds of more than one writer by taking every drover's dog with a docked tail to belong to the genuine stock. At one time dogs without tails were not taxed, which was a sufficient inducement to owners to cut off that useful and ornamental appendage to their dogs.

It has been held that this docking of the tail generation after generation resulted in pups being born tailless; but although such a result might follow if the practice were continued long enough, I do not think such was the case, and that being the cause is controverted by the fact that the bob-tailed sheepdog has other clearly marked features in common which breeding from the promiscuous herd of dogs docked to save a tax would have dissipated rather than insured.

"Stonehenge" suggests that a cross with the bulldog may account for the short bob tail, and considers this idea strengthened because he asserts these dogs frequently show a tendency to the brindle colour. I think "Stonehenge" is wrong in this. A brindle dog of this variety must, I think, be rare; at least, the vast majority of those I hare met with are black and white, grey or grizzled; and in attending shows for so many years a large number have come under my notice.

In appearance they differ very widely from the elegant colley - square built, short backed, bull necked, and with a rounder head and truncated muzzle. The coat is long and shaggy, more or less curly in some instances, but much better when straight. The face, unlike the colley, is always more or less rough - that is, bearded.

This breed I have seen in greatest numbers in the West of England, and at the Devon shows there have been exhibited the best I have met with.

Occasionally specimens with long tails are met with, of which Mr. F. W. Parry's Help is wonderfully good. "Stonehenge" also makes the, to me, singular statement respecting this breed that "he has the peculiar habit of running over the backs of sheep when in flock in order to head them, and on that account is highly valued in fairs and markets."

This habit is not at all peculiar to the bob-tails. Any colley that is up to its business will do so when occasion requires it, as everyone must have observed who has attended a sheep fair or market, and this, among other reasons, is why a light nimble dog is to be preferred to a heavy one, which it may be as well to notice, for there are evidences of a tendency in some of our judges to go in for large dogs. The object should be to encourage dogs of the size best suited for the performance of their natural work, and although a large dog may have a grander and more imposing appearance, and for that reason be preferred as an ornamental companion, excessive size is a disadvantage, and by judges should be viewed as such.