SHEEP 267 



known by the name of merino. This breed has a 

 squat, short, thick body, legs strong and short, large 

 head furnished with stout horns that fall in a spiral 

 behind the ear, woolly forehead, and a very snub 

 nose. The skin, fine and pink, forms at different 

 parts of the body, chiefly around the neck, ample 

 folds which give room for additional fleece. Wool 

 covers the whole body, except the muzzle, from the 

 edge of the hoofs to a rim around the eyes. It is 

 fine, curly, elastic, and short. The grease with 

 which it is impregnated is very abundant, so that 

 the dust sticking to it forms on the surface of the 

 fleece a grayish crust, a sort of plate-armor, which 

 splits open here and there with a slight crackling 

 sound when the animal moves, and closes of itself 

 when the animal is at rest. By washing, these im- 

 purities all disappear and merino wool then shows 

 the whiteness of snow and has a softness that rivals 

 silk. 



"In Spain the merino flocks pass the winter in the 

 fertile plains of the South, in a climate remarkable 

 for its mildness. At the beginning of April they 

 start for the high mountains of the North, which 

 they reach after a journey of a month or six weeks. 

 All through the summer they remain in the highland 

 pastures, rich in savory greensward which the sum- 

 mer sun never dries up, and at the end of September 

 they descend again to the plains of the South. 

 These traveling flocks, changing from plain to moun- 

 tain and from mountain to plain, according to the 

 season, are called migratory flocks. Some of them 



