124: THE SHEPHEBD'S MANUAL. 



in storms, and although completely buried in a snow-drift will 

 manage to push the snow from their bodies and form a cave over 

 them, in which they will live upon what scanty herbage may be 

 within their reach, until help comes. Thus buried, these sheep 

 have lived for two or three weeks before they have been found 

 and extricated After every storm the shepherd's first duty is to 

 explore the drifts and release the imprisoned sheep and lambs. 

 This hardiness fits them for their roving life upon their rocky 

 heather-covered pastures, the heather in part furnishing their sub- 

 sistence. They dig the heather from beneath the snow, or -feed 

 upon it when all else is covered. They are docile, and easily 

 handled with the help of the sagacious Colley dogs, and are gen- 

 erally sufiiciently able to help themselves in emergencies. Their 

 activity is such that the dog is sometimes unable to head off a 

 straying flock, or even to get abreast of it when instinctively 

 bound to change their abode. Three days before a storm they are 

 on the alert, and seek lower ground and shelter. At lambing 

 time, the ewes find retired spots, and year after year return to 

 the same locality to rear their lambs. When removed from their 

 native haunts, they have been known to journey night and day a 

 distance of 60 miles, and to swim a large river, to return to their 

 old pasture grounds. As ah instance of the sagacity and activity 

 of the sheep, it is recorded that a small flock which were thus on 

 the way to a former pasture ground, were obstructed by a canal 

 which had to be crossed. As they could not easily pass this ob- 

 stacle, the flock, headed by an old wether, traveled along the bank 

 until they overtook a canal boat which was passing along in the 

 center of the canal. The cunning wether sprang on to the boat 

 and thence to the opposite bank, the whole flock following in In- 

 dian file. These sheep are kept in large flocks, sometimes of sev- 

 eral thousand, and frequently of one to four thousand. The 

 lambs will survive a surprising amount of cold and hunger, and are 

 on their feet almost at the moment of birth. The ewes take the 

 greatest care of their lambs, and will remain with them for several 

 days, even after accidental or untimely death. 



The mutton of this breed is of peculiarly fine flavor, and the 

 saddles are in great request. The carcass weighs about 65 Ibs., and 

 the fleece averages about 3 Ibs. of washed wool. The breed im- 

 proves easily under the care of a judicious breeder, but the natural 

 qualities of this sheep are such that it is fitted for a place where 

 no others would profitably thrire, and a change in its character 

 that would cause it to lose this quality would unfit it for its posi- 

 tion, and deprive it of its chief value. How vast the room in our 



