i 4 4 WILD LIFE OF SCOTLAND 



Small cows, probably allied to the Celtic short- 

 horn, gave a scanty supply of milk, which was 

 purveyed inr ordinary glass bottles. 



The sheep are the most delightful little 

 creatures in the world very small, fragile, and 

 thin-legged. Exposed to no selection, either natural 

 or human, there is the usual tendency to vary, 

 especially in colour ; and very beautiful they 

 look. There were black sheep and white 

 sheep, in almost equal proportions ; but these 

 are but the web and woof out of which the 

 most varied effects are wrought. The threads, 

 playing freely in nature's loom, produce sur- 

 prises which would have baffled ingenuity, or 

 the wiles of Jacob. "And the flocks conceived 

 before the rods, and brought forth cattle ring- 

 straked, speckled, and spotted." The black and 

 white appear in patches, and circles and streaks 

 here, there, and everywhere ; and in no two alike. 

 Occasionally, one is born brown ; and because of 

 its rarity, and for no other reason, is of considerable 

 value. The natural colours are sufficient for the 

 ordinary purposes to which the Shetland wool 

 is applied, although in some districts vegetable 

 dyes are used. 



Charmed with their beauty, and fairy size, 



