480 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



another and cutting up all kinds of 

 capers" (see picture, page 478). 



And that is exactly what happened, 

 for on coming to the edge of the little 

 creek butting matches began, while some 

 of the lambs jumped entirely over their 

 mothers. At the creek it was a pretty 

 sight to see them leap from bank to mid- 

 stream, where rocks amid swirling wa- 

 ters gave a footing, and thence again to 

 the opposite shore. 



But the bunch of sheep which had 

 come down the mountain in such haste 

 either saw or smelled me when I photo- 

 graphed them, and immediately departed 

 by the same route they had come. Also 

 every sheep in the meadow behind the 

 stone ridge left immediately for the 

 mountain top. 



I was curious now to know just how 

 this little meadow looked, so we walked 

 up and crossed over the top, looking 

 down into a beautiful spot. Below was a 

 circular meadow, containing a small but 

 beautifully clear pond, and the trampled 

 condition showed that every day the 

 sheep came there for grass, which was 

 unusually green and abundant. Whether 

 at one corner of the pond a good-sized 

 mud hole indicated the presence of a lick 

 I could not tell at the time and was sorry 

 not to have investigated it later. 



This seemed an ideal place for close- 

 range pictures, so we immediately began 

 the construction of a blind on the face 

 of the cliff, looking down upon the 

 meadow. A narrow ledge allowed the 

 piling up of flat stones until there was 

 room for three of us to squeeze in be- 

 hind and point the camera downward. 

 We then left, but returned the following 

 day. The experiences of our day in the 

 blind are given in the following extracts 

 from my notebook : 



A MORNING IN thb she;i;p-blind 



"August 12 — Ther., 75-52. 

 "Today was selected for a visit to 

 the stone blind above the little basin 

 meadow, regardless of wind or weather. 

 The three of us had spent a rather un- 

 comfortable night in the small tent, and 

 at an early hour I heard the men break- 

 ing the stunted willows for a fire and a 

 cup of hot cofifee. But the fog for the 



first time had descended into the valley 

 and no object could be seen more than 

 50 yards away. This resulted in a later 

 start and in the end proved a mistake. 



"When half a mile below the blind, 

 the fog lifted suddenly and the warm, 

 bright sunlight illuminated the valley 

 and the mountain sides in a way to aC' 

 centuate the heretofore restricted vision 

 of man or beast. 



"Above us on the left, near the sum- 

 mit of the mountain, was a band of 

 about 40 ewes and lambs, all lying down, 

 but evidently looking at us. Two hun- 

 dred yards above the blind, and on the 

 same side as the others, were two big 

 rams a little distance apart. One was 

 watching us most intently, and in a mo- 

 ment began the ascent, while the other, 

 apparently alarmed at his companion 

 going up instead of down at the feeding 

 hour, began to scan the bottom, where 

 .he soon saw us, though standing mo- 

 tionless. Instead of retreating he walked 

 to the edge of a cliff and, standing like 

 a marble image, gazed in our direction. 



"Soon our positions became irksome 

 and we started for the blind, while the 

 ram immediately trailed after his more 

 cautious companion and disappeared 

 over the mountain top. Had we ar- 

 rived an hour sooner none of these sheep 

 would have been disturbed and, in addi- 

 tion to getting their pictures in the little 

 meadow, probably others would have 

 been attracted from more distant points. 

 Entering the blind, everything was soon 

 ready for an instant or continuous bom- 

 bardment. But an hour passed and noth- 

 ing came down any of the many run- 

 ways, radiating like gray ribbons from 

 the green meadow. 



"Finally Tom, who thought that the 

 big flock of ewes was past due, climbed 

 cautiously to the top of the cliff behind 

 the blind, and on his return said that not 

 a single sheep was in sight. Among this 

 flock were many that had seen us slip- 

 ping up the valley, besides having addi- 

 tional warning in the hasty departure 

 of the rams. This inferential power of 

 sheep is remarkable. 



"The 'sure thing' counted upon, like 

 most predetermined results, had missed 

 a cog somewhere, and when noon ap- 



