It must not, however, be taken for granted that the collie as he is now seen, obtaining valuable prizes at our kennel exhibitions, is the exact counterpart of the dog met with on the sheep farms, and without which the shepherd could not get through his work. The former has been treasured for his beauty alone, and most likely for generations his ancestors had never known what it was to assist the farmer in his duties. So his descendants gradually drop out of the work, and when they do come to be trained, are not nearly so docile and intelligent as they would be had their progenitors been good workers.

We occasionally do see, at the various trials with sheep held in different parts of the country, a handsome dog that is a fairly good worker, but such is the exception, and I am sorry to write that, so far as the shepherd's work with the collie is concerned, the handsomest dogs are usually the worst workers - at any rate in public. It was, however, gratifying to find at the Llangollen Trials in 1893, one descended from bench winners proving successful. This dog, Mr. R. S. Piggin's Ormskirk Charle, won the all-aged stake there in excellent style, beating pretty well all the cracks in the country, and afterwards was awarded the Special as the handsomest dog on the ground. Ormskirk Charlie, bred by Mr. Richard Thornton, of Winmarleigh, Lancashire, and is by Christopher from Prim of Winmarleigh. The dam of Charlie was a good working bitch, and her pedigree goes back to the Trefoil blood on one side. Her owner considered Prim of Nateby, her grand-dam, as all round one of the best working bitches in Lancashire, being equally good with sheep and cattle. With the latter her intelligence was such that, when sent to bring in the cows to milk, she always separated the young from the old stock without assistance. Evidently Charlie has inherited some of her cleverness.

The collie has had several clubs established to increase his beauty and his popularity, and that they have been successful in so doing goes without saying. Such clubs have hitherto been sadly negligent as to the working merits of the dog, and any improvement that of late years may be noted in the latter must be set down to those associations in Wales, the North of England, and elsewhere, that annually hold competitive trials. The first meeting of the kind took place at Bala in North Wales in 1873, and since that time such have been of annual occurrence, and in some districts they are received with great favour by the farmers and the shepherds.

No more interesting sight can be imagined than on a fine day to see a number of highly-trained shepherds' dogs one after another driving a little flock of sheep in a perfect manner. The country air is bracing and healthy on the hill sides, all the surroundings of the gathering are thoroughly rural and invigorating, and the good humour of the owners of the competitors appears in marked con-trast to the jealousies so often present at competitions of other kinds. In 1889, on a Royal visit to Wales, Her Majesty expressed extreme gratification with the working of the Welsh dogs that were given a trial in honour of the occasion.

As something ought to be said as to the management of such trials, I cannot do better than quote from what I have already written on the subject, and which will be found more fully described in Chapter VI (The Old English (Bob-Tailed) Sheep Dog). of the "Collie or Sheep Dog," and already alluded to.

The arrangements are simplicity itself, and with two or three good managers undertaking the work in hand, the cost of the preliminaries is not great. In the first instance, suitable ground is to found. Of necessity this need not be in one field, but must be of an extent - of say, extending in one direction about half to three-quarters of a mile by about a quarter of a mile in breadth. From a note made by me at the time, I find that at the trials held at Gilsland, near Carlisle, in 1885, the dogs had to drive their sheep something over 800 yards, and the trial ground covered about 90 acres. The latter, of course, not including the portions occupied by the spectators. Here, on our wild, bleak fells of Cumberland, the space to be obtained was almost unlimited. As circumstances occur, these estimates may be extended or decreased at will. Having secured such suitable ground, the next thing is to draw out a plan denoting the course over which the dogs have to drive their sheep, the positions where the worker of the dog, the judges, and officials are to stand, the location of the spectators, and the place where the pen is erected into which the competitors have to drive their flocks.

"The course is indicated by a succession of flags placed at intervals, on the far side of which the dogs drive the sheep, the time occupied and the manner in which the work is done being placed to the credit or otherwise of the competitors. The sketch on the opposite page will assist to convey an idea as to a plan of the ground.

"The sheep are liberated near A, the shepherd standing at B sends his dog to the sheep, which are to be driven in the direction indicated by the arrows on the far side of the flags to D, a pen of hurdles into which the sheep have to be driven. The judges and officials stand at C, a position from which they can observe all the work.

"This trial ground should not be level like a racecourse; it is better more or less undulating; with a footpath or two running across; a dry burn or ghyll to pass over; a gap or opening in a hedge or fence to be driven through. Roughish land is best of all, even if it lay along a hill side, a commencement of the task being to drive the sheep up the incline, and away from the shepherd. Then along the outside or far side of the flags to the boundary flag, which must be properly rounded, and so on the far side of other flags on the return journey, to three hurdles forming a pen, with the fourth hurdle away, leaving an opening. Through the latter the little flock has to be sent, the worker of the dog being allowed to assist as he likes, without, however, touching the sheep. Until now the shepherd has worked his collie from the spot where it was originally let loose, and sent to find the sheep which had been separated from a flock inclosed and out of sight. Were the whole of the sheep in view of those to be driven the latter would make back to them, and totally refuse to be taken as intended.