MORBID APPETITE IN SHEEP. 351 



The following is another, among too many 

 instances of their voracity. An ewe had just 

 commenced lambing, was in labour, but no por- 

 tion of the young one had yet been born, when 

 from fifteen to twenty ewes were seen running 

 towards her; the shepherds perceiving this, 

 rescued the ewe, and remained near her until 

 she had done lambing ; the other ewes kept at a 

 short distance, occasionally advancing to make 

 an attack upon the young one. The lamb was 

 brought forth, and when perfectly cleaned and 

 dry, was placed in the sheep-fold, in the even- 

 ing with the mother, as usual, but the other 

 ewes then took no notice either of the mother or 

 young one. 



Although the breeding ewes suffer both in 

 health, and acquire this morbid appetite of de- 

 vouring the progeny of others, and their own 

 cleanings, yet rams, wethers, and ewes, not 

 breeding, fatten to an astonishing degree upon 

 the same pasturage, where breeding ewes had 

 become miserably lean, and died in numbers 

 from being in so low a condition. On one of 

 these spots, I saw a wether killed from a flock, 

 which was so fat as to render the meat almost 

 uneatable ; and Mr. Manton, who, from the 

 cause before-mentioned, had been obliged to re- 

 move all his breeding ewes from his pastures 



