WILD SHEEP 241 



spy, soon made out a herd of sheep coming" over a 

 ridge to our left. It was impossible as yet to distin- 

 guish their sex, so we continued uphill to the summit 

 of a knoll at an altitude of 3,000 feet. In the mean- 

 while the sheep had descended from the top of the 

 ridge and lain down on a snowtield, where, being more 

 conspicuous, they proved to be young rams, three 

 of which carried average heads. Unfortunately, they 

 seemed restless, for we saw them a few minutes later 

 trot off again and lie down some eight hundred }-ards 

 below us in a perfectly unstalkable position at the edge 

 of the snow ; they presently once more got up, as if 

 pursued by an invisible foe, and moved towards the 

 foot of the rocks. I now understood the reason of 

 their troubles, for I could plainly watch the wretched 

 animals trying to bury themselves as deep as they 

 could in the snow, worried as they were by the merci- 

 less mosquitoes. It was a quaint sight to see them 

 hidino- their faces in the snow, kickino- as much as 

 they could of it over their backs, and struggling 

 nervously with their hind-quarters. i\nother herd 

 came in \iew at that moment — ewes and young ones 

 this time, also protecting themselves in a similar way. 

 They had all by this time got rid of their winter coats, 

 and were in clean summer grey livery. The only side 

 from which our rams could be approached was that of 



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