232 DISEASES OF SHEEP. 



SECTION XIV. 



SOREHEADS. 



This disease is connected with, or often produced by, the striking 

 of the fly, and especially in woody countries. Next to the tail, the 

 head is the part most frequently and seriously attacked, and in defend- 

 ing themselves from their tormentors, the sheep are continually 

 striking their heads with their hind feet, until at length a considerable 

 sore or ulcer is formed. No sooner is this done, than the fly perse- 

 cutes the poor animal with tenfold fury, anxious to lay its eggs on or 

 near the wound ; and the ulcer will often spread so far and so rapidly, 

 as to be very difficult to heal, and occasionally it will destroy the 

 sheep. 



The first thing to be done is to procure a cap or covering for the 

 head, made of soft leather, or of brown paper, if leather cannot be 

 procured. This should be cut so as to protect the whole of the head, 

 and yet not to come too close to the eyes. Then the following oint- 

 ment must be prepared : — 



RECIPE (No. 20). 



Ointment for Sore Heads— Take black pitch, two pounds ; tar, one pound ; flowers 

 of sulphur, one pound. Melt them in an iron pot over a very slow fire, stirring to- 

 gether the ingredients as they begin to melt, but carefully watching the compound, 

 and removinK the pot from the fire the moment the ingredients are well mixed, and 

 before tliey begin to boil, for they would then rapidly swell to an extraordinary ex- 

 tent, and the whole mass would run over into the fire. 



While this ointment is warm and soft, it should be thickly spread 

 upon the leather, and the cap fitted to the head. If this be done in 

 the evening, when the fly begins to cease to torment the sheep, the 

 animal wilf be quiet, and the ointment will gradually cool, and stick 

 close to the head. 



Some spread the ointment over the head without the cap, making 

 a kind of charge, a few flocks of wool bein^ scattered over the top 

 of it; and if it should be somewhat too liquid for this purpose, it is 

 stiffened by the addition of a little yellow resin. It is difficult, how- 

 ever, to confine the ointment to the sore when it is thus applied, and 

 it is very apt to run over the eyelid and the face, to the great annoy- 

 ance of the animal. 



In some parts of Scotland there is another disease of the head that 

 is speedily fatal. If the sheep are suffered to rest for the night near 

 the summit of the Grampians, or the hills of Galloway, the head will 

 become enormously swelled, and ulcers will break out, as if the animal 

 had been bitten by a venomous reptile. A great portion of the scalp 

 often comes off", and the animal generally dies. The shepherds there 

 call it the head-ill, and the malady is kept from spreading only by 

 removing the flock from these elevated and dangerous spots. The 

 cause of this disease is uncertain : probably it is produced by the eat- 

 ing of some poisonous plant. 



