Country. Life A FLOAT of sheep pulled , in to the
field gateway in front of me and I waited for the cargo to be unloaded. An old man joined me and watched the sheep jumping down. They proved to be sturdy little animals that had been brought from the hills round about to winter where the grass is richer. Growth has stopped on high ground and the pasture there will not be ready to support a large flock until spring is over. Meanwhile, the stock must be kept in condition and the valley fields are idol grazing. An arrange- ment to take sheep for the winter at thirty shillings a head is considered a good pro- position. The old man who stood by me remarked on the nimbleness of the flock. " They're wild little beggars," he said. " I wonder if they'll be in this county or the next come Tuesday ? " Mountain sheep are wanderers and I wondered about that too, but a day or so later I saw the newcomers in the field and it struck me that the thing that makes mountain sheep wander is an insufficiency of grass. Here they have enough and, like human beings, they stay where things are to their liking.
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