28 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



four ewes, of which three were hornless and one dark brown in 

 colour, exactly like a pair which were sent at the same time 

 with mine direct from Soay to the Duke of Bedford. Mine 

 were very poor in condition when they arrived in August, 

 and never got fat. The dark imported ram, though smaller 

 than Mr Lort's, always seemed to take the lead, and I believe 

 was the sire of most of the thirteen lambs which were dropped 

 by the eleven ewes in April 191 1, nine or ten of them being 

 born in one night. The ewe lamb had twins, and though 

 she is still the smallest of the lot, mothered her lambs and 

 brought them up, as the rest did, without the least help, 

 though the extreme heat and drought of last summer seemed 

 very trying to them. In the small field where they lambed, 

 and where my keeper gave them a few swedes in March and 

 April, they became fairly tame, and would let him come 

 within a few yards of them, and when enclosed by a close 

 wire fence or by wire netting they never tried to get out. 

 But as soon as the ram lambs began to show signs of a desire 

 to breed, and I had to wean them, I had some trouble to 

 keep them in, and the necessity for using a dog in order to 

 catch them seemed to make them as wild as ever. 



When grazing with Manx and Black-faced ewes they 

 always, both ewes and lambs, kept more or less apart, but 

 the old rams got on very well with those of other breeds, 

 over which their superior agility gave them an advantage. 

 But when one of those bought of Mr Lort hurt himself in 

 trying to get through a wire fence early in November, the 

 others set upon him and butted him to death, just as deer 

 will do. This ram was presented to the Natural History 

 Museum, London, where there has till now only been a ewe. 

 It is remarkable that none of these sheep or their lambs 

 were ever struck by blowflies, which were very troublesome 

 to other sheep in 191 1 ; none of them ever became sore-headed 

 owing to the irritation caused by flies settling at the base of 

 the horns, as is often the case in Black-faced and most 

 domestic horned breeds ; none ever suffered from lameness 

 or diarrhoea. Though their pasture and environment were 

 absolutely different from that of their native climate, they 

 seemed able to take care of themselves as well as deer. 



