480 
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 
another and cutting np all kinds of 
capers" (see picture, page 478). 
And that is exactly what happened, 
for on coming' to the edge of the little 
creek butting matches began, while some 
of the lambs jumped entirely over their 
mothers. At the creek it was a pretty- 
sight to see them leap from bank to mid- 
stream, where rocks amid swirling wa- 
ters gave a footing, and thence again to 
the opposite shore. 
But the bunch of sheep which had 
come down the mountain in such haste 
either saw or smelled me when I photo- 
graphed them, and immediately departed 
by the same route they had come. Also 
every sheep in the meadow behind the 
stone ridge left immediately for the 
mountain top. 
I was curious now to know just how 
this little meadow looked, so we walked 
up and crossed over the top, looking 
down into a beautiful spot. Below was a 
circular meadow, containing a small but 
beautifully clear pond, and the trampled 
condition showed that every day the 
sheep came there for grass, which was 
unusually green and abundant. Whether 
at one corner of the pond a good-sized 
mud hole indicated the presence of a lick 
I could not tell at the time and was sorry 
not to have investigated it later. 
This seemed an ideal place for close- 
range pictures, so we immediately began 
the construction of a blind on the face 
of the cliff, looking down upon the 
meadow. A narrow ledge allowed the 
piling up of flat stones until there was 
room for three of us to squeeze in be- 
hind and point the camera downward. 
We then left, but returned the following 
day. The experiences of our day in the 
blind are given in the following extracts 
from my notebook : 
A MORNING IN THlJ SHEEP-BLIND 
"August 12 — Thcr., 75-^2. 
"Today was selected for a visit to 
the stone blind above the little basin 
meadow, regardless of wind or weather. 
The three of us had spent a rather un- 
comfortable night in the small tent, and 
at an early hour I heard the men break- 
ing the stunted willows for a fire and a 
cup of hot coffee. But the fog for the 
first time had descended into the valley 
and no object could be seen more than 
5.0 yards away. This resulted in a later 
start and in the end proved a mistake. 
"When half a mile below the blind, 
the fog lifted suddenly and the warm, 
bright sunlight illuminated the valley 
and the mountain sides in a way to ac- 
centuate the heretofore restricted vision 
of man or beast. 
. "Above us on the left, near the sum^ 
mit of the mountain, was a band of 
about 40 ewes and lambs, all lying down, 
but evidently looking at us. Two hun- 
dred yards above the blind, and on the 
same side as the others, were two big 
rams a little distance apart. One was 
watching us most intently, and in a mo- 
ment began the ascent, while the other, 
apparently alarmed at his companion 
going up instead of down at the feeding 
hour, began to scan the bottom, where 
he soon saw us, though standing mo- 
tionless. Instead of retreating he walked 
to the edge of a cliff and, standing like 
a marble image, gazed in our direction. 
"Soon our positions became irksome 
and we started for the blind, while the 
ram immediately trailed after his more 
cautious companion and disappeared 
over the mountain top. Had we ar- 
rived an hour sooner none of these sheep 
would have been disturbed and, in addi- 
tion to getting their pictures in the little 
meadow, probably others would have 
been attracted from more distant points. 
Entering the blind, everything was soon 
ready for an instant or continuous bom- 
bardment. But an hour passed and noth- 
ing came down any of the many run- 
ways, radiating like gray ribbons from 
the green meadow. 
"Finally Tom, who thought that the 
big flock of ewes was past due, climbed 
cautiously to the top of the cliff' behind 
the blind, and on his return said that not 
a single sheep was in sight. Among this 
flock were many that had seen us slip- 
ping up the valley, besides having addi- 
tional warning in the hasty departure 
of the rams. This inferential power of 
sheep is remarkable. 
"The 'sure thing' counted upon, like 
most predetermined results, had missed 
a cog somewhere, and when noon ap- 
