LEICESTER EWES AND LAMBS. 155 



while the lamber at once proceeds to make an examination. 

 The cause for the exhaustion is soon apparent, for he finds that 

 the lamb's head is present without any show of the legs. The 

 lamber must now turn up his sleeves, well oil his hand and arm, 

 and proceed to work. Taking hold of the lamb's head he must 

 carefully pass it back into the womb and feel for the fore legs, 

 which, when found, he draws out one after the other, taking 

 care to place the head in a proper position. If the ewe is found 

 in time, this operation may be accomplished quite successfully, 

 and the lamb delivered alive ; but if the ewe has long lain in 

 this state, and the lamb has breathed the air before being 

 replaced in the womb, there is great danger of suffocation. 



When the first lamb has been delivered, the lamber should 

 again insert his hand and ascertain whether another lamb is still 

 to come, for if so it should be taken away at once. When this 

 is accomplished, and the ewe able to rise, the shepherd must 

 carry the lambs to one of the empty parricks, when the ewe will 

 usually follow. After he has placed the trio inside, he may him- 

 self enter, take hold of the ewe, cast her, pull oft' the wool from 

 her udder, and hand-suckle the lambs. This is a rather difficult 

 task for a beginner, but after a little practice he will become an 

 adept at it, and by doing this (which many lambers are too 

 lazy to perform) many lambs are saved which would have died 

 before morning, not having enough strength to feed themselves. 



When the lambs have had a good fill, they will usually lie 

 down and go to sleep, and on waking are quite capable of suck- 

 ing their dams. When a ewe has been so exhausted as the one 

 described, it will be necessary for the lamber to provide her with 

 a warm drink of oatmeal gruel. He need not go specially to his 

 house for it at the time, but may bring it out with him upon his 

 next visit to the ewes. If he then finds that some single lambs 

 have been dropped, — seeing that they are strong and on their 

 legs, — he need not put them into a pen, for it is usual to take 

 them into the grass field in which tlie lambing court stands ; or 

 some leave them in the court all night. Tlie former is, however, 

 the preferable course to pursue, for tlie lambs are very apt to 

 lose their mothers, or to be taken up by another ewe to which 

 they do not belong. It is a well known fact that a ewe about 

 to hunb will often look upon a hinib as her own when in reality 

 it is that of anotlier ewe, and her own not yet born. Mistakes 

 have happened in this way ; we have known a lamber who 

 placed a ewe which had ado])ted two lambs belonging to another 

 in a pen, thinking that they were her own. In the morning the 

 other lamber found her witli four lambs, two of which had been 

 bom during the night. This mistake caused considerable ditli- 

 culty, as it was not easy to determine which laml)s belonged to 

 the ewe which was found in the lambing court. Such a mistake 



