A SHEPHERD'S JOB Casualties in flocks of sheep grazing the
wild, rough uplands arc often heavy in spells of hot weather, when the maggot thrives and water holes dry up into platters of mud and slime. Such conditions also make the flocks, unattended by. shepherds who only gather their sheep for washing and shearing, move in search of water and fresh grass. One result is that, venturing along ledges and such places, ewes and their lambs become stuck, nibble the grass within reach until it is exhausted, and then either starve or fall to their death. Shepherds watch for this, of course, and one I met at the weekend, although without his dogs, which he said were on the sick. list, whistled and urged on imaginary collies, relying on this familiar sound to move some of his sheep high on a cliff. 'They could be fast,' he told me, 'an' that would mean ropes an' scalin' or even gettin' a "cruelty" man to shoot one with a rifle. Five fell last month in the drought. The soil dries up an' rocks work loose, you see, an' even a surelfooted thing like a sheep can't save itself when the boulders begin to slip.' Having climbed one crag in an effort to look into a raven's nest, I knew exactly what he meant about loose rocks and the dangers of a minor land- slide. .
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