502 THE COMMON SHEEP. 



seemingly pleased with the sound of his instrument, which 

 is blown with a reed, and resembles the chanter of a bagpipe. 



Mr. J. E. Murray, in his Summer in the Pyrenees, says, that 

 during two or three months of the year, the shepherds repair 

 with their flocks to the high regions of Mont Perdu, which 

 afford good pasture, though other parts of the district are 

 desolate ; and he adds that, " the celerity with which they 

 draw their scattered flocks around them, and the simple mode 

 in which they effect it, are equally astonishing. If the sheep 

 are at no great distance from him, the shepherd whistles for 

 them, and they leave-off feeding and obey the call -, if they are 

 at a distance and scattered, he utters a shrill cry, and the whole 

 flock instantly leap down the rocks and scamper towards him. 

 Having waited till they have all arrived, he proceeds home to 

 his cabin or resting-place, his flock following him like so 

 many well-trained hounds. His fine-looking dogs, two of which 

 are generally attached to each flock, have only to protect it 

 from the attacks of wolves and bears -, and hence dogs and 

 sheep may be seen resting together, or trotting after the 

 shepherd in the most perfect harmony." 



It is remarked by Gilbert White that, " when sheep, cows, 

 horses, deer, &c., feed in wind and rain, they always keep their 

 heads down to the wind, and their tails to the weather." 

 Sheep, however, generally feed more greedily before, rain that 

 they may eat their fill, and then retire to chew the cud under 

 shelter. They feed chiefly on the various species of grasses, 

 eating the tender parts but leaving the stalks. They are 

 especially fond of the crested dog's-tail grass, the silvery hair- 

 grass, the purple fescue-grass, the sheep's fescue-grass, and 

 the fine bent-grass. They will sometimes eat the tender shoots 

 of heath and furze, and the green leaves of the privet, elm, ash, 

 willow, bird-cherry, and birch. Phillips says, that they eat not 

 only the leaves but the young branches of jasmine with great 

 avidity j and Mason in his poem, The English Garden (1812), 

 speaks of their cropping the woodbine, or honeysuckle. Dr. 

 Smith remarked that the tamarisk grew abundantly in Italy, 



