Singular injlance of Fecundity. 85 



VIII. 



Singular Injlance of Fecundity. In a Letter from the Rev. JV. Pearsou of ^Lincoln. 



To. Mr. NICHOLSON. 

 SIR, . 



X Was lately informed by Mr. Morris of Dunhairi) in this county, that he has an ewe 

 which on Friday night, and Saturday morning laft, yeaned ^■uf lambs all full grown ; which 

 I confider as fo remarkable an inftance of fecundity, that I ani induced to tranfmit a notice 

 of it for public record in Jfour Journal. — The ewe is fomewhat above a middle Cze, and is 

 a crofs of the LincolnQiire and Leicefterfhire breeds, three years old, and the ram which 

 fhe was put to, is of a thorough Leicefterfhire flock : three of the Iambs were male, and 

 two female ; they are all dead, but four of the five were found alive, and it is fuppofed 

 would have furvived, if the inclemency of the night had not flarved them. The fhepherd, 

 who vouches for the veracity of thefe fafts, afTerts, that the fourth lamb came in an unna- 

 tural pofition, and that the ewe when he firft %vent to her about midnight, was turned 

 upon her backj and inull have perifhed, on account of being in that pofition, if he had not 

 accidentally come to her afTiflance ; fhe is, however, perfe£tly recovered, and many cir- 

 cumflances concur in proving indubitably, that, though there were about thirty other ewes 

 in the fame grounds at the time, yet the five lambs in queflion were all yeaned by the fame 

 ewe: I will mention one proof, which of itfelf may fatisfy thofe readers, who may other- 

 wife feel difpofed to doubt the authenticity of my information : — the fhepherd, upon a 

 fuppofition that the two firfl lambs that came were all that he had to expe£V, took them 

 into a fhelter, and returned to take care of the ewe, when, to his furprife, he was pre- 

 fented with two more ; thefe were taken away alfo, and on his fecond return, the fifth 

 was found dead newly yeaned, and no other fheep was near :— the fhepherd is not guilty of 

 fabricating tales, and Mr. Morris, who is a refpedtable yeoman, has at this time all the 

 five fkins, which were taken from the lambs. 



It may not be improper to add, that the other ewes of the fame flock, and in the fame 

 paflure, have fome two lambs, and fome only one each, with the exception of one which 

 has three living. 



I am, Sir, 



Your obliged Correfpondent, 



Lincoln, Jpril I ^, iZoo. W.PEARSON. 



P. S. Since the receipt of the above, the learned writer has favored me with an extradl 

 from the Lincoln, Rutland, and Stamford Mercury of i8th lafl, flating that "on the 

 24th ult. at Mardon Woole, in Northumberland, an ewe, the property of T, Reed, Efq. 



yeaned 



