-X^V<^ Jfl-H . f Ji/Wf S'.l 



isa/fe 



Black-faced Leicester South-down. 



THE SHEEP-GOAT-ALPACA. 



OF the Ruminant order of the Mammalia, one 

 of the most important is the sheep, the flesh 

 and wool of which have been of great use to man 

 from the earliest ages. In our own country, within 

 the last half-century, the different breeds have 

 been improved by the growing intelligence, skill, 

 and industry of farmers ; and their management 

 has been brought to a degree of perfection perhaps 

 nowhere else attained. 



BREEDS OR VARIETIES OF THE SHEEP. 



The numerous varieties of sheep that now exist 

 in different parts of the globe, have all been 

 reduced by Cuvier into four distinct species : I. 

 Oin 's Amman the Argali. This species is remark- 

 able for its soft reddish hair, a short tail, and a 

 mane under its neck. It inhabits the rocky dis- 

 tricts of Barbary and the more elevated parts of 

 Egypt 2. Ovis tragelaphus the bearded sheep 

 of Africa. 3. Ovis musmon the Musmon of 

 Southern Europe. 4. Ovis montana the Mouflon 

 of America ; but this species, which inhabits the 

 Rocky Mountains of North America, is now 

 believed to be identical with the Argali, which 

 frequents the mountains of Central Asia, and the 

 higher plains of Siberia northward to Kamtchatka. 

 This leaves only three distinct species of wild sheep 

 as yet discovered. 



It is still a point in dispute from which of these 

 races our domestic sheep have been derived ; nor 

 is the question of great practical importance, 

 though its solution is very desirable in a physiolog- 

 ical point of view. Whether the wild races may 

 be regarded as of one species, as some naturalists 

 contend, or of different species, according to others, 

 the best judges are next to unanimous that the 

 domestic races of this country are of one species ; 

 and what are called different breeds are nothing 

 more than varieties, the result of different culture, 

 food, and climate. The influence of these condi- 

 tions in diversifying the character and condition 

 of sheep, will be adverted to under their proper 

 41 



heads. The following may be regarded as the 

 principal breeds reared in this country : 



I. The Shetland sheep, inhabiting those islands 

 from which they derive their name, and extending 

 to the Faroe Islands and the Hebrides. In 

 general, they have no horns. The finest fabrics 

 are made of their wool, which resembles a fine fur. 

 This wool is mixed with a species of coarse hair, 

 which forms a covering for the animal when the 

 fleece proper falls off. A similar variety is known 

 to inhabit the most northerly parts of Europe, 

 from which it is supposed the fine-woolled sheep 

 of our northern islands and Highlands have been 

 derived. They are hardy in constitution, and well 

 adapted to the soil and scanty pastures on which 

 they are reared, but would ill repay their cultiva- 

 tion in Lowland districts. 



2. The Dun-woolled breed, the colour of which 

 is not confined to the wool, but extends to the face 

 and legs. They seem at one time to have been 

 cultivated very extensively, and remnants of them 

 still exist in Scotland, Wales, and the Isle of Man. 



3. The Black-faced Heath breed, which, being 

 the most hardy and active of all our sheep, are 

 the proper inhabitants of every country abounding 

 in elevated heathy mountains. They have spiral 

 horns, their legs and faces are black, with a short, 

 firm, and compact body ; their wool is coarse, 

 weighing from three to four pounds per fleece ; 

 but the improved breed, which is of mixed black 

 and white in the face and :legs, yields a finer 

 and a whiter wool. They fatten readily on good 

 pastures, and yield the most delicious mutton ; the 

 redder flocks, when three years old, are generally 

 Fattened on turnips in arable districts, and weigh 

 from sixteen pounds to twenty pounds per quarter. 

 They exist in large numbers in the more elevated 

 mountains of Yorkshire, Cumberland, Westmore- 



and, Argyleshire, and in 'all the higher districts 

 of Scotland where heather is abundant Recent 

 severe winters have led to their re-introduction 

 in high grounds where they had for a time been 

 supplanted by the Cheviot and other breeds. 



Ml 



