DOMESTIC ANIMALS 101 



skins in cold weather ; but where would all the skins come 

 from to clothe the inhabitants of the northern United 

 States and of northern Europe ? Sheep thrive best in 

 a dry and cool climate. Cattle often go into a river or 

 lake to keep cool, but sheep never do that. Can you think 

 of a reason why sheep dislike heat and dampness ? All the 

 known wild sheep of the earth live on the wildest cliffs of 

 high mountains, where the winters are very long and cold. 

 One of the noblest wild sheep is the Kocky Mountain Big- 

 horn, of which several small herds live in the Yellowstone 

 Park. It is much larger than our domestic sheep, and the 

 horns of the ram grow to an enormous size and acquire a 

 weight of fifty pounds. 



Our domestic sheep is not famous for its intellectual 

 powers ; on the contrary, its stupidity has become pro- 

 verbial. Nevertheless its ancestor, the Mouflon of Corsica, 

 our bighorn, and other wild sheep are the most wary ani- 

 mals and are more difficult to approach than deer and elk. 

 Can you tell how the tame sheep may have lost its wits ? 



As sheep can crop very short grass and need but little 

 water, sheep raising often pays in arid regions, where cattle 

 raising would not be profitable. Some breeds are princi- 

 pally raised for mutton and others more for their wool. 



Although even the largest sheep remain very much 

 smaller than cattle, the two animals resemble each other 

 very much in structure ; so that we can study the structure 

 of the sheep in our next lesson, in which we shall learn 

 about tame and wild cattle. 



45. Cattle. 



MATERIAL : The same as for the sheep ; foot of a sheep ; pieces of 

 tripe bought at the meat market. Previously observed : Cud-chewing 

 of cattle ; their food ; how they walk and run ; how they defend them- 

 selves ; cow and calf ; sociability of cattle ; oxen in the yoke ; how 

 flies and mosquitoes molest them. 



