MILD ALARM
Most people who have walked through asheer grazing have been amused at the way a quite innocent-looking ewe will turn her soft features inm as near an expression of belligerence as a fcmai! sheep can achieve, and match this with a stab el her forefeet on the ground. It is meant as a warnin,g and never goes any farther. The lamb scampers ea and the ewe, too, makes her escape, but the warning is directed at the intruder and makes one realise that wild sheep had more spirit than the one me has bred down the centuries. I had been on a during which I encountered a ewe which, althour it had no lamb, meant me to know that I wasn't welcome on the particular knoll where she was grazing, and,. returning, found the family pet, 83 English rabbit, loose in the yard. The rabbit is far from timid and even comes indoors, but she doesn't like to be disturbed on these occasions. Wh,en she is displeased she thumps her hind feet on tne, ground, looking alert and as angry as her 'butterflY nose and marble eyes will allow. This thump ina3f express disapproval, but it is an old thing, the corn° munity warning that rabbits are pledged to give at the first sign of danger. Hutch-born Whisky is ane of us until, in moments of stress, her ancestors take charge!
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