A Sheep Story.

Hastings Standard, Issue 120, 14 September 1896, Page 4

A Sheep Story.

A good " sheep " story is told by a correspondent of the Spectator. He writes: —Having read from time to time in your pages notable of sagacity in dogs and cats, it has occurred to me that the following wellauthenticated record of the intelligence of a sheep may possess at least the interest of a "novelty. Two years ago a lamb owned by a gentleman whose farm lies close to Lough Foyle was left motherless. A yardman in charge of the flock nursed and fed the little orphan. She became very tame, and was much petted by her master's children. Last year she had grown into a young sheep, with a lamb of her own. One day some dogs ran through the pasture ground, and the frightened flock scattered and fled through the field, which was a large one, sloping towards the shore. Theyardman, Alick, banished the intruders and collected the sheep, as he supposed, into safety. An hour or two afterwards the pet sheep rushed past the dwelling-house, apparently in great distress. With piteous bleatings, she went on to the gate lodge where Alick was sitting at his noon-day meal, and coming close to him, seemed to seek for help. As he rose from the table she ran out of the house and straight through the pasture to the shore. He followed her, and soon saw the cause of her alarm. Her lamb, terrified by the dogs, had lied to a little peninsula among the rocks, which the incoming tide had transformed into an island. Of course it could not cross the strait, and the mother could not save it, therefore she had appealed to the power and sympathy of her human friend. Her trust in his help was not disappointed, and she and her rescued offspring were soon safely re-united.