Among the Herdwicks. 101 



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Still they do not stray very far from their own haunts, 

 and by way of saving trouble and enabling the ewes 

 to make for the tup, he is generally ruddled. The 

 loss on such perilous rambles is by no means slight, ! 

 and fifty out of six hundred ewes is not thought a. 

 very large percentage. Some are clumsy, or venture 

 in a hard time too far on to the rock edge for a few 

 fresh " pickles," and a sudden blast clicks them off. 

 The farmer can watch them tumbling more than half 

 a mile from the top of Honister Crag, and we have 

 seen three ewes lying dead at its foot together. When 

 they survive such perils they have been known to live 

 to eighteen and even beyond. It is in their ability to 

 tide through a Siberian winter that the real "blue 

 blood" of the Herdwick comes out. Sometimes they 

 are so snowed up on the hill side that it is impossible 

 to get at them, and they can do little more than scratch 



and condition, or make good any deficiency at the end of his tenancy. 

 In other cases the sheep-stock belongs to the tenant, who, nevertheless, 

 takes and leaves them at a valuation, as if once the ' heaf* be lost it is 

 difficult to recover. The right of common of pasture is appurtenant to 

 the ancient tenement, and is described in letting a farm as unlimited. 

 * * * Those having most land adjoining or near the fell, and living 

 convenient to it, will take more than their proper share, so long as 

 human nature remains as it is, and always has been, while those further 

 off must be content with less or nothing. The keen competition amongst 

 the stock-owners and shepherds now and then leads to sheep-hounding, 

 worrying, assault and battery, and work for the lawyers. Among the 

 old hands, Sunday is often the favourite day for a quiet dogging of the 

 neighbours' sheep off the best ground. The sheep have wit enough from 

 experience to move off sharply on hearing the whistle of the hostile 

 shepherd, without waiting for his dog. As a general rule, each flock 

 knows and keeps its own ' heaf, ' or particular part of the common, 

 usually known by pretty well-defined boundaries, such as a 'skye,' 

 prominent rock, or a watershed, but this is a mere matter of convenience 

 only ; there is no exclusive privilege, the whole common is open, and 

 sheep can be turned on any part so long as there is no ' dogging' or 

 driving off others. The Herdwicks in particular possess a strong natural 

 instinct in keeping to the heaf where they are yeaned, and have been 

 known to return thereto from very long distances, crossing rivers and 

 other obstacles, sometimes with the lamb following." — Crayston 

 Webster's Prize Essay on "The Farming of Westmoreland," K. A. 

 Society's Journal, vol. iv. pp. 13-14, second series. 



