SHEEP. 97 



always on the side where the wind will blow from 

 next day. This is a sign well known to the mariner 

 in those seas, and significant as the cries of the sea- 

 fowl by the South Stack, on our own coast. That 

 animals give warning of a change is well known. 

 The Highland sportsman delights to see the cattle 

 high upon the hill in the early morning, for he knows 

 then that the day will be fine. Before rain, dogs 

 sleep, fowls cackle, pigs carry straw in their mouths, 

 ducks earnestly immerse themselves, and haughty 

 man is, despite himself, depressed. 



An important element in the butchers' "fifth 

 quarter " of a well-fed sheep is the internal fat. It 

 may interest a few to know how in this regard dif- 

 ferent species of animals are differently provided. 

 Animals that chew the cad have suet : that of the 

 sheep is more abundant, drier, whiter, and better 

 than any other. Suet differs from fat or grease 

 in that the latter remains soft, but the former 

 hardens in cooling. The suet amasses about the 

 kidneys mainly, much about the intestines, but the 

 firmest and best is about the kidneys and tail. 

 Sheep have no other fat but suet ; the flesh is 

 covered with it. 



The fat of man, and those animals which have no 

 suet (such as the dog, horse, &c), is pretty equally 

 mixed with the flesh, not collected at the extremities, 

 but covers the animal all over, and becomes a thick, 

 distinct, and continued layer between the flesh and 

 skin. This peculiarity attends the whale and other 

 cetaceous animals. White remarks that the villain 

 slug, that farmer's pest, which consumes the tri- 



