Timidity of Sheep .
Writing about the stoat I mentioned recently, a friend in the south suggests that it may have been emboldened to attack because it was a female with young close at hand, and the theory is probably right. My correspondent goes on to speak of seeing a ewe butting a mastiff near lambing-time. The timidity of sheep is taken for granted, and not everyone who crosses sheep grazing realises that a ram may resent the intrusion. When I was a child we used to play a joke on visitors by inducing them to walk towards the ram in the flock, and stop and bow three times to him as a mark of respect. It was a curious fact" that the ram seemed to think the bowing of the head some sort of challenge, for he could be relied upon to charge within a second or two. The visitors often had a vigorous butting before they could escape. , I have never seen ewes attacking anyone in this way, but they often stamp their feet in a manner that indicates annoyance, particularly when lambs are at hand and the intruder is accompanied, by a small dog. A small dog annoys almost all grazing animail, at any season.
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