A HERD OF EWES 209 



we had spied from below had lain down at the same 

 place, and proved to be ewes. 



After a well-earned rest we started down the ridofe, 

 working our way over rocks among craggy pinnacles, 

 and peeping carefully into the ravines on either side, 

 we found a herd of ewes and young 300 yards below 

 us. Adult rams seemed indeed very scarce, for we 

 had now examined great tracts of country continuously 

 on the look-out from six a.m. to two p.m. without 

 catchino- si^ht of a sinole one. Remembering that 

 I had promised the director of the St. Petersburg 

 Museum to present him with a couple of Oz'is nivicola, 

 I seized the opportunity and proceeded to approach 

 the herd ; a few minutes later we were within fifty 

 yards of them as they unsuspiciously advanced among 

 the rocks. Only one of the ewes was clear of her 

 winter coat, the others being in a beggarly patchy 

 condition. As she stepped across the sight of my 

 ritie I dropped her dead, while her friends stood 

 gazing in all directions, and it was only when we 

 stood up that they went off at an easy trot. The 

 General said she was a three-year-old sheep ; her coat 

 was of a clean slaty-grey colour, with the usual light 

 parts on the rump, legs, and belly. The fact that she 

 was already in summer garb while the older ones still 

 carried their winter coats led me to the possibly rash 



