Mammal Study 



281 



A Sicilian shepherd. 

 Photo by J. H. Comstock, 



THE SHEEP 



Teacher's Story 



"The earliest important achievement of ovine intelligence is to knowwltether its own 

 notion or another's is most worth while, and if the other's, which one? Individual 

 sheep have certain qtmlities, instincts, competences, but in the man-herded flocks these 

 are superseded by something which I shall call the flock mind, though I cannot say very 

 well what it is, except that it is less than the sum of all their intelligences. This is why 

 there have never been any notable changes in the management of flocks since the first 

 herder girt himself with a wallet of sheep-skin and went out of his cave-dwelling to the 

 pasttires." — "The Flock," by Mary Austin. 



Both sheep and goats are at home on mountains, and sheep especially, 

 thrive best in cool, dry locations. As wild animals, they were creatures 

 of the mountain crag and chasm, although they frequented more open 

 places than the mountain goats, and their wool was developed to protect 

 them from the bitter cold of high altitudes. They naturally gathered in 

 flocks, and sentinels were set to give warning of the approach of danger; 

 as soon as the signal came, they made their escape, not in the straight 

 away race like the deer, but in following the leader over rock, ledge and 

 precipice to mountain fastnesses where wolf nor bear could follow. Thus, 

 the instinct of following the leader blindly, came to be the salvation of the 

 individual sheep. 



The teeth of the sheep are like those of the goat, eight incisors below 

 and none on the upper row, and six grinding teeth at the back of each side 



