126 NATURE AND WOODCRAFT. 



lower ranges) follow and eat the heather seeds 

 from beneath the bushes. 



Sometimes a whole flock of sheep is buried 

 deep, and has to be dug out. Even taking it 

 for granted that the whereabouts of the entombed 

 flock is known, the task of rescuing them is one 

 of great difficulty. In attempting it, the shep- 

 herds have occasionally lost their lives. The 

 animal heat given off by the sheep thus buried 

 thaws a portion of the snow about them. 

 Stretching their necks over this limited area, 

 they devour every blade of green, even the turf 

 itself. This exhausted, they eat the wool from 

 each other's backs. Under these circumstances, 

 the tenacity of life shown by the sheep is marvel- 

 lous, and many have been rescued alive after 

 being buried for twenty-eight days. When 

 brought to light, these poor creatures are in 

 a weak and emaciated condition. During the 

 long and terrible winter of 1885, the fell-sheep 

 suffered severely. On the higher runs they 

 perished by hundreds. The farmers (four in 

 number) of the farms lying contiguous to Sea- 

 Fell, alone lost fifteen hundred sheep out of an 

 aggregate of about six thousand. The whitened 

 bones and fleeces of these were dotted every- 



