342 MISJUDGING DISTANCE. 



let drive at his haunch, trusting that the deflected bullet 

 might catch him somewhere about the shoulder. " Hahct!" 

 Away he goes with that reckless headlong speed which an 

 animal, when struck in the region of the heart, so often puts 

 forth for a short distance ere he falls lifeless ; and almost 

 immediately we lose sight of him behind a neighbouring 

 brow. As I had distinctly heard the unmistakable " tell " 

 of the bullet, we at once followed up, and soon found him 

 lying stone-dead, about 150 yards beyond where he had 

 disappeared, with the bullet-hole just behind his shoulder. 

 His head, which was a fairly good one, was cut off, and 

 leaving his carcass to be fetched next morning, we were 

 soon " making tracks " towards camp. On our way down 

 we disturbed a large flock of burrell, our attention having 

 first been drawn towards them by the clatter of stones and 

 shingle dislodged, in their rapid flight, on the steep hill- 

 face they were ascending. As far as we could see in the 

 dusky light, they were ewes and little lambs. We were 

 evidently in a nursery of both Oves Amnion and burrell in 

 this locality, for we had seen no small lambs of either kind 

 elsewhere. 



Previous to our descent we had noticed that the compan- 

 ions of the ram I had killed, which turned out to be seven 

 in number, had, after their first scare from the shot, resumed 

 their composure and recommenced feeding considerably 

 higher up among the slopes, owing probably to their not 

 having actually seen us. We therefore decided to remain 

 here a day, with a view to again attempting to circumvent 

 them ; besides, the dead beast had to be fetched down. 



By reason of the manner in which nature so often assimi- 

 lates the colour of wild animals to their surroundings, it is 

 sometimes difficult to detect them at a distance with the 

 naked eye, unless they are in motion ; and the burrell ex- 

 hibits a marked instance of this. With the aid of the 

 telescope, however, we soon discovered the rams again next 

 morning, though they had shifted their ground to where it 



