18 SHOET STALKS 



covert, and the master ram lay on the top of a rock, only 

 his dark brown shoulder and fine head being visible. In 

 accordance with our plan for the day, while two of us were 

 "posted," the third took the stalk, but this was a very 

 different business from the first trial. For the first time 

 we discovered the exceeding shiftiness of the wind among 

 these hills. A back current carried a warnins^ messaQ-e to 



the herd, and F got only a long running shot. The 



Sards said it was all the fault of this beastly stalking. 



I came home hj myself, following the stream, where 

 the macquia was tallest and the snow was most drifted. 

 When these long flexible shoots are bowed down by masses 

 of snow, and interlaced, they constitute a temper-trying 

 obstacle comparable only with the leg-fdhren of the 

 Eastern Alps. On the way I saw another lot of mouflon 

 which I had unwittingly disturbed in my struggle through 

 the covert. Now" it is not to be supposed from this grand 

 day's sport that it is easy to put salt on the tails of these 

 wily beasts. To some extent, as often happens, we 

 exhausted our luck on the first day, and we did not get 

 another chance for many days. 



To enable sportsmen to appreciate the difficulties of 

 the sport, let me endeavour to describe this little wild 

 sheep, and his ways and surroundings. The mouflon is 

 a small edition of the big-horn sheep of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. Though only about a fifth of the size, he carries 

 the same sturdy body on short legs. Like that animal, 

 his horns spring well back, and then curve downwards 

 and forwards, parallel with his cheeks ; and like him, 

 instead of the wool of a sheep, he has the close hair 

 of a deer. The colour of the ewes is also the same 



