SHEEP BOTH WHITE AND DARK 



earning the habits of sheep by men just returning 

 from their initial trip for these animals such, for 

 instance, as: "Always get above your sheep, as, 

 when frightened, they never run down hill; a 

 sheep will 'wind' you half a mile away; never 

 take a horse into the sheep hills, if you expect to 

 bag your game; if a ram sees you first, you might 

 as well go to camp," etc., etc. 



I may say in reply to such statements (I am not 

 able to enumerate here all that I have read of 

 this character), that it is impossible for a man 

 to learn an animal's habits sufficiently to set 

 himself up as an authority, with the experiences 

 of only one or two trips to go by. In fact, I 

 should consider that such a man would be apt 

 to give out some very dangerous (from a natural 

 history standpoint) information, rather than in- 

 structive, for the reason that animals, like per- 

 sons, are freaky in their traits, and this man 

 might witness some phenomenal or exceptional 

 act on one trip that might never be seen again 

 in a hundred years. 



To illustrate: My guide and I frightened sheep, 

 in sight, from a mountain two miles away, in 

 Wyoming; and yet at another time three rams 

 sauntering down towards us on the opposite hills 

 in a quartering direction not over 400 yards 

 away (while we in turn were traveling towards 

 them, on horseback), didn't see us. Even our 

 quick action in dismounting did not disturb them. 

 One of these rams was the biggest and darkest I 



97 



