Kay Robinson’s Theory 
ance—the green grass close-grazed, the tall butter- 
cups left standing high. 
‘Once, leaning over a gate with friends, I 
pointed out that a flock of sheep grazing in a 
sainfoin field were nibbling the greenstuff close, 
but were not eating the flowery stalks, when one 
sheep near us accidentally pulled up a whole 
sainfoin plant by the roots and proceeded to 
munch it upwards. Inch by inch the stem passed 
into its jaws, and I began to be afraid that it was 
going to establish an ‘exception’ to my rule. 
But, just when the bright cluster of pink sainfoin 
blossom was within two inches of its teeth, it 
gave an extra nip, and the flower head fell to the 
ground, and the sheep resumed its search for 
greenstuff. 
“T do not say that this would always happen 
—I should be sorry for any theory which depended 
upon the intelligence of a sheep—but it was a 
very striking object-lesson to my two companions; 
and any one who looks around during this summer 
with an inquiring mind will find plenty of evidence 
that grazing, browsing, and nibbling animals avoid 
flowers, and stick to greenstuff when they can 
get it. 
“T do not say that all animals avoid the same 
flowers. Horses, for instance, may dislike large 
flowers like roses and conspicuous yellow flowers 
like buttercups, but they will bite off flat clusters 
of minute white or pale yellow flowers, such as 
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