3 i2 HOOFED ANIMALS 



Little more than a century ago a couple of score were 

 imported into Sydney from India, and later additional 

 stock was introduced from England and the Cape of Good 

 Hope; the latter were Merinoes. 



There are now in Australia over sixty million sheep, or 

 about fifteen per head of the population ; whereas in the 

 British Isles there is not one animal per head. New Zealand 

 received its first Sheep in 1840, and now there are twenty 

 millions chiefly the Southdown breed on the sheep- 

 farms of the colony, or over twenty-five per head of the 

 population. It can readily be seen how wool and mutton 

 form no inconsiderable share of the wealth of our kindred 

 across the seas, wealth more assured and enduring than 

 even the gold that has been mined under the Southern 

 Cross. The Argentine Republic possesses over seventy 

 million Sheep, and there are large numbers in America 

 and South Africa, the Merino breed largely predominating. 



Mention may be made of but a few of the best known of 

 our native breeds, which vary considerably in size and in 

 the length and quality of their wool. They thrive best in 

 the drier regions of the east and the chalk and limestone 

 areas of the south. Elsewhere the animals flourish best on 

 the easily drained hillsides of the west, and on the southern 

 uplands of Scotland rather than the plains. As a rule, the 

 Sheep of the west are reared mainly for food ; in the east 

 the quality of the wool is a very great consideration. The 

 humid climate of Ireland is unfavourable to Sheep. The 

 Southdowns of the chalk hills have rather small heads, 

 from which horns are absent. They are noted for their 

 fine, short wool, and they yield more meat than other 

 animals of anything like similar type. The Norfolk and 

 Dorset breeds are horned in both sexes. Of the long- 

 woolled breeds the Cotswold Sheep deserve first mention, 

 if only for the fact that early in the fifteenth century some 

 of them were imported into Spain. There they were crossed 

 with Merinoes, resulting in an improvement even in the 

 fleeces of the famous Spanish Sheep. Welsh Sheep thrive 

 on the sparse mountain pastures ; they are small, but noted 

 for the excellence of their meat. The Cheviot, its location 

 identified in its name, yields wool of moderate fineness and 



