486 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



camera was arranged and at a focus 

 probably requiring no further change 

 when brought to bear upon the sheep. 



Lowering my eyes into the liood sur- 

 rounding the focusing mirror, I slowly 

 arose, and when the camera cleared the 

 top of the rock I found the sentinel 

 looking directly at me and in sharp fo- 

 cus ; so, without a moment's hesitation, 

 the button was pressed and the shutter 

 revolved. What the camera saw is now 

 reproduced on page 490. 



Before the frightened sheep had a 

 chance to gather their wits I had reversed 

 the plate-holder and caught the band as 

 they struggled in a disordered way over 

 the broken rocks above me (see photo- 

 graph, page 491). 



We then set about constructing a com- 

 fortable blind between rocks concealing 

 us from animals coming from below or 

 above, and where we could remain the 

 rest of the day watching the scattered 

 bands of sheep on the meadow below. 

 It seemed that practically every such 

 band had a leader, and in moving from 

 one locality to another or when feeding, 

 one could readily pick it out. And this, 

 today, is the surviving and predominat- 

 ing characteristic of domestic sheep. A 

 dread, growing out of their exposed posi- 

 tion and distance from the mountain, was 

 noticeable, too, and manifested by the 

 way the sentinel sheep continuously sur- 

 veyed the country (see page 489). 

 ' And here there may be interposed 

 some general observations on the above 

 subject. Mr. Charles Sheldon, who is 

 accepted, and properly so, as the lead- 

 ing authority on northern sheep, inclines 

 strongly to the belief that such bands of 

 sheep have no sentinel in a strict sense, 

 but rather that the more alert or experi- 

 enced of the members at times give the 

 ■appearance of prearrangement for guard 

 duty. Such a conclusion is undoubtedly 

 true of caribou and elk, but in the case 

 of sheep, where gregarious ties are very 

 strong, it seems to me that the assump- 

 tion or selection of a leader, covering 

 days and perhaps seasons, means the 

 necessary assumption of lookout duties, 

 unless such a leader is thoroughly satis- 

 fied that every condition is favorable to 

 the security of the flock (see pictures, 

 pages 489, 490). 



During my observations Tom was de- 

 voting himself to watching the moun- 

 tains above, where he finally discovered 

 a ewe coming down towards us, and 

 which he thought was one of the sheep 

 that might not have seen us clearly when 

 the stampede took place and was anxious 

 now to join the other sheep feeding in 

 the meadows. Its course would bring it 

 some 20 yards to the left and well out of 

 way of the quartering wind blowing up 

 the side of the mountain. 



At 75 feet the sheep turned to the 

 right, and, as we knew that the wind 

 would bring it across the line of our 

 scent, I was most anxious to note the 

 results, even if I lost the picture. When 

 between two rocks, with only the head 

 and shoulders showing, the scent struck 

 it suddenly. The animal winced as if 

 shot and dashed upward again with the 

 speed of a deer. 



This showed pretty conclusively that a 

 sheep at close range had a good nose, at 

 least when previously alarmed. 



Finally the animals on the meadow 

 turned toward us, and we thought that 

 the time had now come for a series of 

 pictures, as band after band came up our 

 side of the hill. 



The leader of the first flock began 

 watching the side of the mountain, com- 

 ing 10 or 15 feet and then stopping for 

 a minute or two, during which intervals 

 the rest of the band continued to graze 

 and often laid down. On reaching the 

 creek the leader had apparently become 

 very suspicious for some reason, and 

 stood eyeing the entire side of the moun- 

 tain, but finally lay down with the others, 

 but with head turned toward the moun- 

 tain side. Unquestionably the absence of 

 sheep where they were accustomed to 

 gather in the afternoon, and possibly the 

 ascent of the first flock, had something to 

 do with the uncertainty of the leader. 



Meanwhile another band had come 

 within 50 yards of the others, also led by 

 a ewe, which acted very much like the 

 first. In a few minutes the two bunches 

 commingled, and, to our regret, soon 

 began retreating towards the meadow, 

 where they stood in an uncertain kind of 

 way for a long time. Then the two bands 

 separated, one continuing up the little 

 creek. The manner of the leader, look- 



