CHAPTER V 

 ROAD-MAKING ANIMALS 



TRESPASS by animals, and disputes as to rights of way, 

 are among the commonest subjects of discussion in 

 papers devoted to country life and amenities, for few 

 animals recognise the authority of the Ordnance Sur- 

 vey, or acknowledge any boundary which is not marked 

 by a strong fence. But in spite of the aspersions of 

 the " Bad Child's Book of Beasts," the Welsh mountain 

 sheep appear to be especially gifted members of the 

 ovine race, and as such have actually obtained legal 

 recognition of their capacity to distinguish boundaries 

 and assert rights of way. On certain farms the flocks 

 know the boundaries of their mountain pastures, and 

 presumably transmit this knowledge to their lambs. 

 They also maintain their rights against intruders, and 

 if they meet trespassing sheep on the paths which 

 generations of flocks have worn on the mountain 

 side, they do battle with the interlopers, and if pos- 

 sible knock them down the hill. This sense of 

 locality augments the value of flocks bred on these 

 hills, and the enhanced value was settled at Dolgelly 

 Assizes as half-a-crown per sheep. 



We should expect this assertion of rights of way by 

 sheep, though their knowledge of boundaries is more 



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