62 ZOOLOGICAL SKETCHES. 



next word of command. The sudden side-leap of an 

 outpost is a signal of imminent danger; like a well- 

 drilled squadron the herd at once wheels around and 

 gallops away in a direction which the leaders seem to 

 have precalculated for every possible emergency. Dur- 

 ing their winter migrations from sierra to sierra the 

 sachems of a large herd become as cautious as the 

 leaders of the Anabasis, and will often stand immovable 

 for hours together at the brink of a plateau, with their 

 eyes fixed upon some doubtful object in the neighbor- 

 hood of their meditated line of march. If the outlook 

 is not quite satisfactory, they decline to take the benefit 

 of the doubt, and stick to their vantage-ground till the 

 coast is decidedly clear. In the winter of 1874 a com- 

 pany of American engineers put up a line of telegraphs 

 from Matamoras to Saltillo, in Northern Mexico, and on 

 four consecutive days they saw a number of cimarrons 

 approaching their camp from the direction of the San 

 Cristoval Mountains and retreating again like the scouts 

 of a circumspect guerilla leader. But on the following 

 Sunday a large herd crossed the road, heading due south 

 toward the Sierra Mesilla, in Western Durango. The 

 continual extension of the wire line and the noise of the 

 workmen had delayed their march, the pilgrims having 

 evidently bided their time in what the French call a 

 "camp of observation." 



The Mexicans assert that the mountain sheep never 

 stays within earshot of a permanent human settlement, 



