OBSERVATIONS ON QUADBUPEDS. 331 



OBSEEVATIOjSTS ON QUADEUPEDS. 



SHEEP. The sheep on the downs this winter (1769) are Yery 

 ragged, and their coats much torn ; the shepherds say, they 

 tear their fleeces with their own mouths and horns, and they 

 are always in that way in mild wet winters, being teased and 

 tickled with a kind of lice. 



After ewes and lambs are shorn, there is great confusion 

 and bleating, neither the dams nor the young being able 

 to distinguish one another as before. This embarrassment 

 seems not so much to arise from the loss of the fleece, 

 which may occasion an alteration in their appearance, as from 

 the defect of that notus odor, discriminating each individual 

 personally : which also is confounded by the strong scent of 

 the pitch and tar wherewith they are newly marked ; for the 

 brute creation recognise each other more from the smell than 

 the sight ; and in matters of identity and diversity, appeal 

 much more to their noses than their eyes. .After sheep 

 have been washed, there is the same confusion, from the 

 reason given above. WHITE. 



EABBITS. Eabbits make incomparably the finest turf, for 

 they not only bite closer than larger quadrupeds,* but they 



* It has been generally supposed that wild rabbits will not become domes- 

 ticated. The following interesting account of one, communicated to me by a 

 lady, will afford a proof to the contrary : 



" One evening last spring my dog barked at something behind a flower-pot 

 that stood in the door-porch. I thought a toad was there, but it proved to be 

 a very young rabbit, a wild one. The poor thing was in a state of great 

 exhaustion as if it had been chased, and had been a long while without food. 

 It was quiet in the hand and allowed a little warm milk to be put into its 

 mouth. Upon being wrapt in flannel and placed in a basket by the fire, it 

 soon went to sleep. When it awoke, more milk was offered in a small spoon, 

 which this time was sucked with right good will ; and the little creature con- 

 tinued to take the milk in this way for several days, until strong enough to 

 help itself out of a cup. It appeared to become tame immediately, soon 

 learnt its name, and I never saw a happier or merrier little pet. Its gambols 

 on the carpet were full of fun. When tired with play, it would feed on the 



