l68 WILD TRAITS IX TAME AXniALS. 



sheep, a curious page from the meteorological 

 records of the Southern Highlands ages and 

 ages ago. 



I have said that the date of the lifting of 

 the wool is dependent to some extent on feed- 

 ing. It is an occasional experience of the care- 

 less shepherd to have his flock escape from 

 control in the spring and ravage the standing 

 crops. Such a contretemps means not only 

 damage to the growing corn or ha}-, but also 

 injury, both immediate and long continued, to 

 the flock. A sudden change of diet from the 

 frugal fare on the hill-turf and in the "dead- 

 fold " to that of the lush cereals and grass of 

 cultivated lands is not unfrequently fatal to the 

 animals. But, even if they escape digestive 

 perils, further results are liable to occur, which 

 show themselves in the fleece. The wool not 

 only "lifts," but actually peels off in great 

 flakes, leaving the animal in rao;s and half- 

 naked, and, of course, destroying the hopes of 

 the flock-master. Now it seems to me to be 

 very likely that this may point out to us one 

 of nature's agencies for fixing the time when 

 the wild mountain sheep get rid of their winter 

 clothing. When the midsummer heat melts 



