THE SHEEP. 185 



Nature has given to the sheep, as well as to other animals, an instinct- 

 ive and strong affection for its young; an affection whicli strengthens 

 in proportion to the necessities of the parent and the offspring. The 

 more inhospitable the huid is on which they feed, the greater their 

 kindness and attention to their little ones; nevertheless, it will occasion- 

 ally happen that the yonng ewe, in the pain and confusion and fright 

 of her first parturition, abandons her lamb. Some, when the nddcr 

 begins to fill, will search it out again, and with unerring precision — 

 others, severed from their offspring before they had become acquainted 

 with its form and scent, are eagerly searching for it all over the field 

 with incessant and piteous bleatins^s. Some will be hanging over their 

 dead offspring, while a few^, strangely forgetting that thoy are mothers, 

 are grazitig unconcernedly with the rest of the flock. 



There is another circumstance that adds to the confusion. Some of 

 the ewes have had twins; they have inadvertently strayed from one of 

 them, or stupidly or capriciously have driven it from them ; and the 

 neglected one is wandering about, vainly seeking its parent, or angrily 

 repulsed by it. 



The first thing a lamber has to do is to remedy as well as he can this 

 confusion. He first seeks out for those that have twins, and that have 

 recognized both of their lambs, and, taking his little marking-bottle and 

 marking-iron, he puts a particular mark on each of the twins, by which 

 he may again recognize them, and on each pair he puts a different mark. 

 Jf they are just dropped, and are weak, he leaves them for a while; 

 but if they are able to travel a little, he drives them into a pound, or 

 into a corner of the field with the other twins, or he at once removes 

 them into another and somew^hat better pasture, which he had destined 

 for the twins. 



He then looks for the lambs that have apparently been abandoned by 

 tlie mother, and if, as he takes one of them up, it bleats, he will pres- 

 ently find whether there is any responsive call or gaze of recognition. 

 If the mother eagerly calls to it, he has but to put it down, and she 

 will speedily rejoin and suckle it, if it is strong enough to raise itself 

 from the ground for this purpose. If the animal is almost exhausted, 

 he must catch the ewe, and assist her to suckle the lamb. It will soon 

 revive, and her love for it will revive too. If she merely gives a care- 

 less look of recognition, he must suckle the lamb from his bottle of 

 ewe's milk, and leave it for a while ; perhaps her affection will return 

 when her udder begins to be distended with milk; if not, he must drive 

 her with others into a fold, and, suffering the rest to escape, try every 

 means to induce her to let the little one suck. There may be consider- 

 able difficulty in this at first, but, by the exercise of some patience and 

 tact, he will generally succeed. After all, however, he will probably 

 have some lambs upon his hands for whom he cannot find a mother, or 

 whose own mother will not suckle them. 



On the other hand, he will fiud some ewes who are gazing mournfully 

 on their dead lambs. With some contrivance, he will generally find 

 in these foster-mothers for his abandoned ones. He tics a piece of 

 cord round the hind feet of a dead lamb, and the mother, if she has 

 not been unnecessarily frightened by the lamber, or his dog, will follow 



