448 



OBSERVATIONS 



ON 



QUADRUPEDS. 



SHEEP. 



THE sheep on the downs this winter (1769) are very 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 

 recognize 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. 



RABBITS. 



Rabbits make incomparably the finest turf, for they not 

 only bite closer than larger quadrupeds, but they allow no 

 bents to rise ; hence warrens produce much the most delicate 

 turf for gardens. Sheep never touch the stalks of grasses. 

 WHITE. 



