THE HARDINESS OF SHEEP 83 



aXe 8rj j3a\e KrjpvXos ffyv, 

 os T* firl Kvparos avdos a/x' d\icv6ve<r(Ti 



coi', &\iirop(pvpos elapos opvis. 



To wit ' I would, I would I were a cock kingfisher, 

 which flies over the wave-crest with the hen king- 

 fishers with careless heart, the sea-blue bird of spring.' 



XXIX 



Episodes of the great frost continue to come to 



hand. Everybody knows the excellence 



The hardi- 

 of ' blackface ' mutton ; but the superior ness of 



hardiness of the animal which produces 

 it is not often so precisely tested as it was by the 

 following incident, recorded on the authority of Mr. 

 Maclellan of North Balfern, a farmer well known in 

 the south of Scotland. On February 6th forty black- 

 faced sheep were buried in a snowdrift, of which 

 thirty-six were dug out with great labour, the 

 remainder being given up as lost. On the 18th the 

 shepherd noticed a small air-hole in a great drift, from 

 which vapour was escaping. Digging down, he suc- 

 ceeded in liberating two of the missing ones, which 

 bounded lightly away, and joined the rest of the flock 

 without more ado, seemingly none the worse for 

 their twelve days' fast. Three half-breds that is, 



