Plants Used by Sheep on Mountain Range. I 1 



come separated. They now call each other and get together. The 

 shepherd has in his flock a small number of sheep wearing bells and a 

 small number of black sheep. The number of bells and black sheep 

 varies with the tastes of the different herders. It is impossible for him 

 to count his whole flock of approximately 3000 sheep except with help 

 and at rare intervals, but each night he counts his bells and his black 

 sheep. If one of these is missing he scours the feeding ground for lost 

 sheep. Knowing the gregarious habit of his sheep, if all his bells and 

 black sheep are present, he is reasonably sure that no large group of 

 sheep is likely to be missing. The first night on a new bedding ground 

 is the most difficult night. So fixed is the habit of the sheep to return to 

 the old bedding ground that continual care must be exercised during the 

 afternoon and evening to get them all together at the new place. 



On the third, fourth and succeeding days, the sheep are handled 

 as they were on the second day, till the range available from the bedding 

 ground is exhausted. If the camp is established on the edge of a cul- 

 tivated hay meadow, the feeding grounds will probably all lie to one 

 side of the bedding ground as shown in figure 1 7. In other cases the 

 feeding grounds may radiate in all directions. In any event the feeding 

 ground which lies in the direction of the next bedding ground is saved 

 until the last day. 



On moving day, the herder starts the sheep out in the morning and 

 moves them during the day toward the new bedding ground, endeavoring 

 to get them there rather early in the day so that he may have plenty of 

 time to make camp and pick up stragglers. Meanwhile the boss or his 

 helper has come with a wagon and loaded the herder's camp outfit, his 

 tent, his stove, his bedding, and his grub box and moved them around 

 by convenient roads to the new camp site. Here he pitches the tent and 

 sets up the camp and if necessary helps the herder to gather in the strag- 

 glers. From this new bedding ground the feeding system is repeated. 



Sometimes when the feeding grounds are far from roads and in 

 regions where wild animals are few, the herder will bed the sheep for 

 a tew nights away from his camp, but even then many of the sheep will 

 often take matters in their own hands and return to the old bedding 

 ground at night. 



In the Mica Mountain region, no effort is made to water the sheep. 

 The forage in the woods is so succulent that the sheep go for days at a 

 time without drinking water. 



While the herders thus remain inseparable from their sheep, the two 

 camp tenders, the boss and his helper, are headquartered at what is called 

 the ' horse camp," in a convenient fenced meadow from which the 

 timothy has been cut and the use of which they have leased from some 

 farmer. Here they pasture their saddle horses and draft mules and 

 keep extra dogs for the herders. Here also they pitch their tent and eat 

 and sleep. During the day they are busy, as explained above,in caring 

 for the wants of the herders and the sheep. When a convenient fenced 



