IN SUMMER FIELDS. 33 



which a Leicestershire farmer would consider 

 extravagantly high. 



Another mountain trait in the stereotyped 

 character of sheep is their well-known sequa- 

 ciousness. When Grip runs after them they 

 all run away together : if one goes through a 

 certain gap in the hedge, every other follows ; 

 and if the leader jumps the beck at a certain 

 spot, every lamb in the flock jumps in the 

 self-same place. It is said that if you hold a 

 stick for the first sheep to leap over, and then 

 withdraw it, all the succeeding sheep will 

 leap with mathematical accuracy at the corre- 

 sponding point ; and this habit is usually held 

 up to ridicule as proving the utter stupidity 

 of the whole race. It really proves nothing 

 but the goodness of their ancestral instincts. 

 For mountain animals, accustomed to follow 

 a leader, that leader being the bravest and 

 strongest ram of the flock, must necessarily 

 follow him with the most implicit obedience. 

 He alone can see what obstacles come in the 

 way ; and each of the succeeding train must 



D 



