16 Domesticated Anivtals. 



Isle of Man, as well as in the Hebrides, Orkneys, etc., occurs a breed 

 of small four-horned Sheep, with brown or black wool. These 

 Sheep are represented in the collection by a ram from the Isle of 

 Man, presented by Mr. G.C. Bacon in 1901 (fig. 10). 



Near akin are the aforesaid smaller Soa Sheep, which live in practi- 

 cally a wild state on Soa Island, in the St. Kilda group, and are 

 occasionally, so far as the rams are concerned, four-horned. The 

 collection includes the mounted skin of a ewe and the skull of a 

 ram, both purchased in 1900. 



__ . The Merino, although practically unknown in this 



country, is one of the breeds supplying the bulk of the 

 wool-produce of the world at the present day, if, indeed, it does not 

 exceed all other breeds in this respect. Merinos, as their name 

 indicates, were originally a Spanish breed ; but in early days the 

 Spanish flocks produced more wool than the factories of the country 

 could work up, and the surplus sheep were sold. In the year 1783, 

 King Louis XVI. of France bought a large estate at the village of 

 Rambouillet, some forty miles west of Paris, where he established an 

 extensive Merino-farm. Other flocks of selected Merinos were 

 subsequently introduced from Spain, with the result that in the 

 course of a century the Rambouillet flock, by careful selection, was 

 developed into a breed of smooth-bodied Sheep remarkable for their 

 large bodily size and the excellence of their wool. The size of the 

 Rambouillet breed is indeed so great that these Merinos have been 

 nick-named ' Elephant-Sheep.' They have the advantage of being 

 much hardier than their Spanish ancestors. Merinos, and especially 

 Rambouillets, have been exported to South Africa, the United 

 States, South America, Australia, Ncav Zealand, etc. The Cape 

 breed appears to be directly derived from the original Spanish stock, 

 and is now the source of the great bulk of the enormous wool- 

 product of that colony. The Rambouillet breed, on the other 

 hand, is extensively kept in France, Germany, Russia, and other 

 parts of the Continent ; and has been largely exported to Australia, 

 Argentina, and the United States. In the last-named country the 

 breed now extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific, although 

 pure-bred flocks are limited to certain districts ; and in Argentina 

 there are also enormous flocks of choice breeding. The breed is 

 represented in the collection by a fine Merino ram from Cape 

 Colony, presented by the Minister of Agriculture for that Colony 

 in 190G ; and also by miniature models of a ram and an ewe, 

 purchased in 1902. 



