BLACK-FACED SHEEP. 297 



formerly rievers and harriers of other men's cattle and 

 chattels, they now follow the more peaceful occupation of 

 shepherds and drovers ; and only occasionally show the fiery 

 spirit of their hardy ancestors by breaking each other's heads 

 at some border fair or market. But the genuine Highlander 

 has not, I think, yet sobered down into a good shepherd; 

 and the border men still form the most persevering and 

 careful guardians of the large nocks which now fill all the 

 northern mountains. 



In most parts the border sheep, the Cheviot at least, have 

 taken the place of the old black-faced breed, being more 

 profitable in wool, and growing more quickly to a profitable 

 size for the butcher. I must own to having a strong 

 prejudice in favour of the picturesque little black-faced 

 sheep, with their long wool and horns. Nothing, too, can be 

 more adapted to our scenery than these animals ; wild and 

 active as goats, they scramble with the sure foot of a chamois 

 over the most impracticable-looking rocks in search of some 

 sheltered nook or shelf where the grass is early and green, or 

 for refuge from any fancied danger. On the most impassible- 

 looking and perpendicular face of a corrie, where there does 

 not appear to be standing-room for a raven, the black-faced 

 little fellows wind their way in single file in search of 

 favourite spots of pasture. 



A sheep, though correctly enough designated an animal 

 "patiens injuriae," is by no means without abundance of 

 instinct and sense. Watchful to a degree, they are a constant 

 annoyance to the deer-stalker, who loses many a shot by the 

 object of his long and weary crawl and scramble being 

 suddenly warned of its danger by the cry of the sheep, a loud 

 sound between a hiss and a whistle. No sooner does the 

 red-deer hear a sheep utter this warning cry than he starts 

 to his feet as if he had heard a rifle-shot, and is off in an 

 instant. Nor does the red-deer ever mistake the direction 

 from which the danger is to be feared. Guided by the 

 appearance of the sheep, he sees at once which way to go in 

 order to avoid his unseen enemy. 



Mountain sheep have a great foreknowledge of alterations 

 in the weather ; and I have frequently seen them changing 

 their ground in a body before the commencement of a storm, 

 which as yet was not foreseen by myself. Nevertheless the 

 sheep-farmer occasionally suffers great loss by drifting storms 

 of snow towards the end of winter, when the sheep are weak 



