17 DECEMBER 1954, Page 22

Sharp-eared Sheep How acute are the senses of animals and

birds when compared with our own 1 Crows and pigeons have wonderful sight. Pheasants can see well, but their hearing is quite uncanny. How good the vision of sheep is I have never been able to judge, for some- times they become aware of a dog prowling M the gorse at a great distance, and at others they are taken unawares when one might have expected them to have seen their enemy. We stood at a gate at the weekend overlooking a large field, and something prompted me to make that hissing noise that shepherds some- times use to urge on a dog. Immediately, although I made the sound quietly and could hardly be heard by someone three yards away, the sheep far out in the field (the nearest was at least a hundred yards from me) began to trot off. It proved an astonishing demonstra- tion of the sheep's hearing.