486 
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 
camera was arranged and at a focus 
probably requiring no further change 
when brought to bear upon the sheep. 
Lowering my eyes into the hood sur- 
rounding the focusing mirror, I slowly 
arose, and when the camera cleared the 
top of the rock I found the sentinel 
looking directly at me and in sharp fo- 
cus ; so, without a moment's hesitation, 
the button was pressed and the shutter 
revolved. What the camera saw is now 
reproduced on page 490. 
Before the frightened sheep had a 
chance to gather their wits I had reversed 
the plate-holder and caught the band as 
they struggled in a disordered way over 
the broken rocks above me (see photo- 
graph, page 491). 
We then set about constructing a com- 
fortable blind between rocks concealing 
us from animals coming from below or 
above, and where we could remain the 
rest of the day watching the scattered 
bands of sheep on the meadow below. 
It seemed that practically every such 
band had a leader, and in moving from 
one locality to another or when feeding, 
one could readily pick it out. And this, 
today, is the surviving and predominat- 
ing characteristic of domestic sheep. A 
dread, growing out of their exposed posi- 
tion and distance from the mountain, was 
noticeable, too, and manifested by the 
way the sentinel sheep continuously sur- 
veyed the country (see page 489). 
And here there may be interposed 
some general observations on the above 
subject. Mr. Charles Sheldon, who is 
accepted, and properly so. as the lead- 
ing authority on northern sheep, inclines 
strongly to the belief that such bands of 
sheep have no sentinel in a strict sense, 
Lut rather that the more alert or experi- 
-enced of the members at times give the 
appearance of prearrangement for guard 
■duty. Such a conclusion is undoubtedly 
true of caribou and elk, but in the case 
of sheep, where gregarious ties are very 
strong, it seems to me t':at the assump- 
tion or selection of a leader, covering 
days and perhaps seasons, means the 
necessary assumption of lookout duties, 
tmless such a leader is thoroughly satis- 
fied that every condition is favorable to 
the security of the flock (see pictures, 
pages 489, 490). 
During my observations Tom was de- 
voting himself to watching the moun- 
tains above, where he finally discovered 
a ewe coming down towards us, and 
which he thought was one of the sheep 
that might not have seen us clearly when 
the stampede took place and was anxious 
now to join the other sheep feeding in 
the meadows. Its course would bring it 
some 20 yards to the left and well out of 
way of the quartering wind blowing up 
the side of the mountain. 
At 75 feet the sheep turned to the 
right, and. as we knew that the wind 
would bring it across the line of our 
scent, I was most anxious to note the 
results, even if I lost the picture. W'hen 
between two rocks, with only the head 
and shoulders showing, the scent struck 
it suddenly. The animal winced as if 
shot and dashed upward again with the 
speed of a deer. 
This showed pretty conclusively that a 
sheep at close range had a good nose, at 
least when previously alarmed. 
Finally the animals on the meadow 
turned toward us, and we thought that 
the time had now come for a series of 
pictures, as band after band came up our 
side of the hill. 
The leader of the first flock began 
watching the side of the mountain, com- 
ing 10 or 15 feet and then stopping for 
a minute or two, during which intervals 
the rest of the band continued to graze 
and often laid down. On reaching the 
creek the leader had apparently become 
very suspicious for some reason, and 
stood e}'eing the entire side of the moun- 
tain, but finally lay down with the others, 
but with head turned toward the moun- 
tain side. Unquestionably the absence of 
sheep where they were accustomed to 
gather in the afternoon, and possibly the 
ascent of the first flock, had something to 
do with the uncertainty of the leader. 
Meanwhile another band had come 
within 50 yards of the others, also led by 
a ewe, which acted very much like the 
first. In a few minutes the two bunches 
commingled, and, to our regret, soon 
began retreating towards the meadow, 
where they stood in an uncertain kind of 
way for a long time. Then the two bands 
separated, one continuing up the little 
creek. The manner of the leader, look- 
