BRETTON SHEEP. 
and set in the accustomed spot, so that it could be kept under surveillance. The lamb 
Was soon seen to approach it, and after a careful inspection, walked away, and soon 
returned, bearmeg a tolerably large stone in its mouth. Rising on its hind legs, it 
brought the stone upon the glass with such force that the thick pane was shivered to 
fragments. It then laid down the stone, put its head through the opening, and quietly 
began to browse on the green herb which it so much coveted. 
THE very small dimensions of the Welsh Sheep are sufficiently familar to every 
frequenter of the metropolitan markets, on account of the small size of the delicately 
flavoured joints which are taken from the Welsh Sheep. There is, however, one variety 
of domesticated Sheep which is of such pigmy stature that even the Welsh animal rises 
into importance when compared with one of these curious little creatures. The variety 
in question is that which is known by the name of the Breton Sheep, and is of such 
wonderfully minute proportions that it irresistibly reminds the observer of the dwarfed 
oak-trees which are so prevalent among the Chinese. 
A considerable number of these little animals have been Jately imported into 
England, not for the sake of improving the British herds of Sheep, but merely as curious 
examples of the singular diversity of size and shape which can be assumed by a single 
species. If a Breton Sheep be placed by the side of a fair example of the Leicester 
breed, the difference in size would be much greater than that which is exhibited by the 
huge Flanders dray-horse and the diminutive Shetland pony. 
In several foreign breeds of the domestic Sheep there is a curious tendency to the 
deposition of fat upon the hinder quarters. This propensity is not valued in our own 
country, where the Sheep are almost invariably deprived of the greater portion of their 
tails by the hand of the shepherd, and in consequence is never developed. In some 
varieties, however, such as the steatopygous Sheep of Tartary, the fat accumulates 
upon the hinder quarters in such enormous masses that the shape of the animal is 
completely altered. The fat of this portion of the body will sometimes weigh between 
