PLAY AND PRANKS OF WILD FOLK 209 



watched them play. On one of these occasions the 

 lion was enjoying the pretence of running down an 

 animal, and carried out a lively pantomime in the 

 snow, frolicing like a kitten. 



One spring day a flock of Bighorn sheep found 

 a large snowdrift across their trail on the summit 

 of Storm Pass. They could easily have gone 

 around it, but evidently saw here what suggested 

 an excuse to frolic. One at a time, they started 

 to jump the drift. The first performer, on gaining 

 the farther side, turned about to watch the others 

 try it. As each jumper landed he quickly lined 

 up with those who had preceded him and faced 

 about to watch the performance, while the sheep 

 awaiting their turn also gave their close attention 

 as each jump was made. 



The style of jump and the distance covered were 

 much alike in each case. Most of the sheep made 

 a standing jump; two or three backed off several 

 steps and got a running start for the leap. One 

 made a clumsy pretence of slipping and came down 

 in the snow on his side. Two young lambs went 

 together and instead of jumping far, jumped high, 

 coming down in the centre of the drift. After the 

 last one had crossed the sheep stood together for a 

 few seconds and then strolled on, plainly with noth- 

 ing in particular to do. 



One day I saw a number of sheep scrambling and 

 circling on an icy slope. The fun probably was 

 to keep from falling, but it may have been in the 



