ancestors, the sins which are so frequently attributed to the
Alsatian may perhaps be explained as the result of " atavism," without postulating a considerable admixture of wild blood by breeders in modern times. Australian farmers, however, are so convinced of the wolfish propensity of Alsatians to worry sheep, that they are hoping to exclude them from the country altogether.
Shakespeare, in Macbeth, enumerates eight different kinds . of dog which were presumably common in England in Elizabethan times, and it seems possible that those which he calls " demi-wolves " may have been the progenitors of the modern Alsatian. Shakespeare was obviously a dog-lover himself, if one may judge from various passages in his plays, as, for instance, his famous description of the hounds in Midsummer-Night's Dream :- "Their heads are hung
With ears that sweep away the morning dew ; Crook-knee'd, and dew-lapp 'd like Thessalian bulls ; Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells, Each under each."
And his keen appreciation of the " music of the hunting- field is shown again in Titus Andronicus :- " While hounds, and horns, and sweet melodious birds, Be unto us as is a nurse's song Of lullaby?'
Shakespeare also mentions a characteristic trait of canine nature which I have myself noticed in the Alsatian, though it is by no means peculiar to that breed—namely, the strong suspicion or dislike which is shown towards men who are deformed or disreputable in appearance.
In King Richard /// the hunchbacked monarch exclaims
that he has been created :-
" —so lamely and unfashionable
That dogs bark at me afi I halt by them,"
And I fear that this is the experience of tramps and beggars generally. Not long ago an Alsatian rushed at me, barking fiercely, and I think prepared to bite, when I approached his
owner's house wearing a shabby overcoat and carrying several parcels intended for a " jumble sale " in my arms. I retreated to my car, which I had left outside the gate, put down the parcels, and took off my coat, and when I again advanced the dog was quite willing to " make friends." I was not surprised, however, to hear soon afterwards that his owner was involved in a law-suit, owing to some more serious
misbehaviour.—I am, Sir, &c., WALTER CRICK. Hartfield Square, Eastbourne.
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