and in with the greatest care, and
nursing them after her own fashion, with the most affectionate anxiety.
When the ducklings, following their natural instinct, went into the water,
their foster-mother exhibited the utmost alarm; and as soon as they
returned to land, she snatched them up in her mouth, and ran home with
them. What adds to the singularity of this circumstance is, that the same
animal, when deprived of a litter of puppies the year preceding, seized
two cock-chickens, which she reared with the like care she bestows upon
her present family. When the young cocks began to try their voices, their
foster-mother was as much annoyed as she now seems to be by the swimming
of the ducklings--and never failed to repress their attempts at crowing.

[Illustration]

ANECDOTE LXV.

The Shepherd's Dog.

James Hogg, the shepherd poet, had a dog named Sirrah, who was for many
years his sole companion. He was, the shepherd says, the best dog he ever
saw, in spite of his surly manners and unprepossessing appearance. The
first time he saw the dog, a drover was leading him by a rope, and,
although hungry and lean, "I thought," Hogg tells us, "I discovered a sort
of sullen intelligence in his face, so I gave the drover a guinea for him.
I believe there never was a guinea so well laid out. He was scarcely then
a year old, and knew nothing of herding; but as soon as he discovered that
it was his duty to do so, I can never forget with what eagerness he
learned. He would try every way till he found out what I wanted him to do;
and when once I made him to understand a direction, he never forgot or
mistook it again."

About seven hundred lambs, which were at once under Mr. Hogg's care, broke
up at midnight, and scampered off in three divisions across the hills, in
spite of all that the shepherd and an assistant lad could do to keep them
together. "Sirrah," cried the shepherd, in great affliction, "my man,
they're a' awa." The night was so dark that he did not see Sirrah; but the
faithful animal had heard his master's words, and without more ado he set
off in quest of the flock. The shepherd and his companion spent the whole
night in scouring the hills, but of neither the lambs nor Sirrah could
they obtain the slightest trace. "We had nothing for it," says the
shepherd, "but to return to our master, and inform him that we had lost
his whole flock of lambs. On our way home, however, we discovered a body
of lambs at the bott