12 Plants Used by Sheep on Mountain Range. 



pasture for the horsecamp is not available, as is often the case early in 

 the season before the timothy meadows have been mowed, the tenders 

 camp with the herders and depend upon hobbles to keep their horses 

 from straying. 



WHAT THE SHEEP EAT. 



Fhe author's notes on the food plants of the sheep have been gained 

 by spending the days in the woods with the sheep, watching their feeding 

 habits, identifying the plants as they ate them, and collecting herbarium 

 specimens of the various species. Sets of the plants collected have been 

 deposited in the Washington State College Herbarium and in the United 

 States National Herbarium. 



The determination of the actual plants eaten is made somewhat 

 difficult by the timidity of the sheep. It was only by the exercise of 

 great patience and care that one could get among the sheep and close 

 enough to them to make exact observations. Especially was this true in 

 the forenoons. The desired result was attained usually by posting ones- 

 self on a convenient log or stump ahead of and in the path of the sheep, 

 remaining perfectly quiet, making no sudden movements and observing 

 most of the eating by the aid of a pair of binoculars. 



In both regions studied, the sheep spent most of their time eating 

 shrubby plants and young brush. Very little attention was paid by them 

 to the grasses and herbs which grow close to the ground. A fair esti- 

 mate is that two-thirds to three-fourths of the sheep's time was devoted 

 to the layer of brush, while the remaining one-fourth to one-third was 

 spent eating the herbs on the ground. In this respect they differed from 

 those mentioned in the usual reports on the food habits of sheep, which 

 mostly devote their attention to the "grasses" which the sheep eat and 

 discuss them as if their chief food consisted of grasses and tender herbs. 

 Some authors have mentioned the browsing of sheep on the herbage of 

 shrubs and trees but most of the literature on the subject neglects this 

 phase of the feeding. This may perhaps be due to the fact that in other 

 regions the shrubs do not form as important a factor in the food supply 

 of the sheep. 



The brush was eaten as high as the sheep could reach. Often they 

 would climb upon a log or on the raised butt of a fallen tree to gather 

 leaves, young twigs, and fruit of some bush or young tree which were far 

 beyond their reach from the ground. Where the shrubs grew tall and 

 were especially desirable, they would stand on their hind feet and beat 

 down the brush with their bodies till they could reach much of the upper 

 parts of the foliage. 



THE WHITE PINE ' FORESTS. 



In the white pine forests the principal sheep food plant is the 

 huckleberry, Vacc'mium macrophyllum (Hook.) Piper. This plant 

 forms a large part of the shrubby undergrowth. The bushes are vase- 



