452 The Plague of Field Mice, by Sir Walter Elliot. 



cultivated, or at any rate more sheltered, lies along the lower 

 part of the valley, and borders the moist bog land, of which the 

 more luxuriant growth had already been cut, and stacked for 

 winter hay. These spots continue fresh and verdant till the 

 frost and snow of winter render them also no longer available 

 for feeding. The sheep are now reduced to considerable straits, 

 and fall off in condition. Still they struggle bravely against the 

 adverse elements, picking every blade that is visible, and even 

 scraping the snow away with their feet to get at the grass be- 

 neath. "At all times," says the Ettrick Shepherd, "when the 

 ground is nut covered with snow, sheep find upon it sufficient 

 fresh food." "I have often," he continues, "stopped in the 

 middle of a flock in fields half covered with snow, where no 

 grass whatever was to be seen. The sheep, however, having 

 their eyes nearer to the ground, perceived the points of some 

 leaves, and scratching with their feet to obtain more, seized it 

 with their teeth, even pulling up the roots with their leaves."* 

 The shepherd now comes to their assistance and doles out the 

 bog hay, which had been stored for such a contingency, and this 

 enables them to struggle on till herbage revives with returning 

 spring. The earliest plants that appear, which are known by 

 the vernacular names of moss, ling, spret, &c.,f then afford them 



* Hogg's Shepherd's Guide, 1807, p. 226. See too Sir John Sinclair's 

 Observations on the Improvement of "Wool, 8vo. Edin. 1792, where he 

 calls the hill sheep "excellent snow-breakers, accustomed to procure their 

 food by scraping the snow off the ground with their feet, even when the top 

 is hardened by frost. They have never any other food besides the grass and 

 hay produced by their own hills."' Page 66. 



t For the identification of these local terms, I am chiefly indebted to Mr 

 Hardy. The references quoted are to Dr George Ji hnston's Natural History 

 of the Eastern Borders, 1853, Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary, Halliwell's 

 Archaic and Prov. Dictionary : — 



i. Heather, He-heather ; Calluna vulgaris. Sheep only eat it when it is 

 young. It is, therefore, frequently burnt in spring. (Malcolm in the Shep- 

 } erd's Guide, p. 331). Heath, Erica cinerea and E. tetralix are called 

 She and Bell-heather, and are not liked by sheep. (Johnston, 136). 



ii. Ling ; ERiopHOaust vaginatum. One of the earliest and most favourite 

 grasses, eaten by sheep with great avidity, especially the roots. The first 

 shoots and the flower stalks are generally known as moss. After flowering, 

 the stalks are neglected, and the leaves which are then preferred are more 

 properly ling. (Johns. 204). 



iii. Moss, as above stated, appears to be synonymous with ling, and so the 



