The Sheep and Goats 227 We may first say a word or two as to foreign breeds of sheep, especially those of the East. Some of these resemble the wild breeds in having smooth coats and almost no wool. The SOMALI SHEEP, for instance, yield no wool useful for felting or spinning. They have drooping ears and black heads. Some of the finest natural wool is developed by a white sheep in Tibet. The fur is usually sold as Tibetan lamb. The wool is exactly like white floss-silk. When cured by the Chinese, the leather is like white kid, with this flossy wool attached. is sometimes used as a beast of burden. Mr. Lockwood In India and Persia the sheep : " Borax, asafcetida, and other commodities Kipling, in his " Beast and Man in India," says are brought into India on the backs of sheep in bags. The flocks are driven in large numbers hills of the from Tibet into British territory. One of the sensations of journeying in the is to come * interior,' as the farther recesses of the mountains are called by Anglo-Indians, suddenly on such a drove, as it winds, with the multitudinous click of little feet, round the

Pkoto by W. Heidi [Wishaic, N.B.

MERINO BAMS.

The best wool-producing sheep. Imported from Spain to Australia.

shoulder of some Himalayan spur. The coarse hair bags scrape the cliffside from which the narrow path is built out or hollowed, and allow but scant room for your pony, startled by the hurry and the quick-breathing rush of the creatures as they crowd and scuffle past. Only the picturesque shepherds return from the^e journeys. The carriers of the caravan (i.e. the sheep), feeding as they go, gather flesh in spite of their burdens, and provide most excellent mutton.... In the towns of the plains rams are kept as fighting animals. A Mohammedan swell going out for a stroll with his fighting-ram makes a picture of foppery not easily surpassed by the sporting 'fancy' of the West. The ram is neatly clipped, with a judicious reservation of the salient tufts, tipped with saffron and mauve dye, and besides a large collar of blue beads it wears a necklace of hawk-bells."

The FAT-TAILED SHEEP of Persia and Tartary exhibits a curious provision of nature. When food is plentiful, a quantity of fat accumulates on the tail and croup. As the pasture dries up and the animal finds little food, this store of fat is gradually absorbed. Another fat-tailed tail reaching to thesheep is found from Syria and Egypt to the Cape. This has a long

In the Egyptian breed the tail is ground. broad throughout; in the Syrian it narrows to a point. The ordinary weight of the tail is 15 Ibs.; but in some Syrian sheep's well-fattened examples it reaches 70 or 80 Ibs. Ludolph saw in Egypt a sheep's tail of 80 Ibs. weight. This overgrown tail is a great encumbrance to the animal. In order to lighten the burden, the shepherds fasten under it a small board, sometimes with wheels attached, to make it easy to draw over the ground. In Greece, Wallachia, and Western Asia a fine breed of sheep, quite different from the English forms, is seen. It is called the WALLACHIAN SHEEP. When the Zoological Gardens were first founded here, some of these sheep were introduced and crossed with English breeds. The horns are tall spirals, as in the great kudu antelope. The body is large, and the fleece long and straight, and more like that of the long-haired goats than curly wool. There are now few countries in the

Photo by J. T. Newman} [Serkluansted. world to which sheep have not been intro- BLACK-FACED MOUNTAIN-SHEEP. duced. They were probably among the The sheep of the high mountains and heather-moors. earliest animals to be domesticated.

; Certainly they are the first to be mentioned for we learn that "Abel was a keeper of sheep," while Cain tilled the earth. The feud between the keeper of flocks and the grower of crops typified in this ancient quarrel still goes on wherever the wild mountain breeds of sheep are kept, for there is of necessity always danger that the wandering sheep may raid the plots of corn. In Spain a curious and ancient set of laws regulates the passage of the flocks to and from the mountain pastures through the corn-lands. It is said that the name of the famous breed of Spanish sheep known as MERINOS recalls their foreign origin from across the sea, and that they were originally imported into Spain from England. Whether that be so or not, it is certain that no one could recognise them now. The finest merino sheep, especially those bred in Australia, into which country they were imported some forty years ago, look as if covered with a dense growth of moss. The close wool grows not only on their backs, sides, and bellies, but on legs, forehead, and nose. There are believed to be ten millions of merino sheep in Spain, most of which " /. are migratory. They are called transhumantes," Phoio by and are taken from the plains to the mountains LEICESTER EWE. and from the mountains to the plains yearly. These A heavy, long-wooiied breed.

The Sheep and Goats 229 " transhumantes " are divided into flocks, each under a head shepherd, or " majoral." The flocks follow the shepherds, who lead the way, and direct the length and speed of the journey. A few wethers, trained to the business, follow the shepherds, and the rest come in due order. Powerful dogs accompany them as guards. This system of sheep migration is controlled by a tribunal termed the Mesta. It can be traced back to the middle of the fourteenth century. By it persons are prohibited from travelling along the course of the route pursued by the flocks so long as they are on the road. It also maintains the right for the flocks to graze lies in the way. Moreover, it claims a path ninety on all the open or common land that is over yards wide through all enclosed and cultivated country. The length of the journey 400 miles, which is accomplished in six or seven weeks. The system works greatly to the injury of local cultivators and stationary flocks, whose fields are injured by the migratory sheep.

Photo by W. [Withaw, N.B.

CROSS-BRED SHEEP.

The class of sheep kept mainly on cultivated land in the North Midlands.

ENGLISH BREEDS OF SHEEP.

is evident from the In England are reared the finest and most valuable sheep. This for merinos, noprices paid for them by foreigners and breeders in our colonies. Except one comes to any other country but this when about to seek new blood for their flocks or for a singleto stock new lands. Kecently 1,000 guineas were paid by a firm in Argentina Lincoln ram. Differences, well marked and of great importance, exist between our different breeds. Each in which allsuits its own district, and each is carefully improved and kept pure by herd-books, pedigree animals are entered. is the SOUTH DOWN; in Scotland, the BORDER The " general utility sheep " in England LEICESTER. The former is a small, fine sheep, with close wool, and yielding excellent mutton. It provides the meat sold in our best shops, and has largely stocked New Zealand. The it is a tall, long-woolled, white-fleecedoriginal breed of England was possibly the COTSWOLD;

of the World230 The Living Animals

sheep. Later a large heavy sheep, with long wool and a massive body, was bred in the Midlands, and called the

LEICESTER LONG-WOOL. This

sheep gives a great cut of wool, and much coarse mutton. The CHEVIOT SHEEP, originally bred on the hills of that name, is now one of the mainstays of the Scotch mountain farmer. The Cheviots eat the grass on the high hillsides, while the

BLACK-FACED HIGHLAND SHEEP

live on the heather higher up. The SUFFOLK, OXFORD, " " HAMPSHIRE, and other Down sheep are larger breeds than

Photo by J. T. Kemnan] listed. the Soutih Down. The LONK RAM. ROMNEY MARSH SHEEP are a This is a photograph of the largest sheep on record. heavy long-woolled breed. The EXMOORS are small heather-sheep like those of Wales, and the SOA and ST. KILDA SHEEP, which are often four-horned, the smallest of all. all The maintenance of flocks is now almost an essential part of English agriculture on chalk lands, which comprise a very large percentage of the southern counties. On the chalk downs the flocks are the great fertilisers of the soil. Every night the sheep are folded on the fields which are destined to produce corn in the following year. The manure so left on the soil ensures a good crop, with no expense for carting the fertiliser from the farmyard, as is the case with manure made by oxen kept in straw-yards.

On the South Downs, Oxfordshire Downs or Chiltern Hills, Salisbury Plain, and the Berkshire Downs the farms have been mainly carried on by the aid of the flocks. Where these are no longer kept the land reverts to grass, and the growing of corn ceases. On the coarse, new-sown grasses cattle take the place of sheep, and an inferior style of farming, like

/the ranches of South America, replaces the careful and high-ly skilled agriculture of Old England. In the far north of Scotland crossbred sheep are now reared and fed in winter on turnips, which will grow luxuriantly where the climate is too bleak and wet for wheat.

Formerly cattle were the main source of wealth to the owners of Highland estates. The sheep was only introduced after the Highlands were subdued subsequently to the rebellion in 1745. It was found that the rough-coated heather-sheep throve on the wet and elevated hills. This led to their substitution for cattle, as wool was then dear. Sheep are now in their turn giving way to Photo by J. T. Newman] [Serkhamsted. grouse and deer over much of the Central WELSH EWES Highlands, as the price of wool has fallen. A small breed of hill.sheep.

The Sheep and Goats 231

THE GOATS.

THOUGH the dividing-line between the Sheep and Goats is very indistinct, some differences are of general application. The goats are distinguished by of the the unpleasant " hircine " odour males, and by beards on the chins of the same sex, by the absence of glands in the hind feet, which sheep possess, and by certain variations in the formation of the skull. The difference between the temperament of the sheep and goats is very curious and persistent, showing itself in a marked way, which affects their use in domestication to such a degree that the keeping of one or the other often marks the owners as possessors of different degrees of civilisation. Goats are restless, curious, adventurous, and

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