100 sheep: Chap III 



t lian in the female ; and Fitzinger ®* remarks that the mane 

 in the African maned race is far more developed in the ram 

 than in the ewe. 



Different races of sheep, like cattle, present constitutional 

 differences. Thus the improved breeds arrive at maturity at 

 an early age, as has been well shown by Mr. Simonds through 

 their early average jieriod of dentition. The several races 

 have become adapted to different kinds of pasture and 

 climate : for instance, no one can rear Leicester sheep on 

 mountainous regions, where Cheviots flourish. As Youatt 

 has remarked, " In all the different districts of Great Britain 

 yve find various breeds of sheep beautifully adapted to the 

 locality which they occupy. No one knows their origin ; 

 they are indigenous to the soil, climate, pasturage, and the 

 locality on which they graze ; they seem to have been formed 

 for it and by it." *^ Marshall relates *^ that a flock of heavy 

 Lincolnshire and light Norfolk sheep which had been bred 

 together in a large sheep-walk, part of which was low, rich, 

 and moist, and another part high and dry, with benty grass, 

 when turned out, regularly separated from each other ; the 

 heavy sheep dra^-ing off" to the rich soil, and the lighter sheep 

 to their own soil ; so that " whilst there was plenty of grass 

 the two breeds kept themselves as distinct as rooks and 

 pigeons." Numerous sheep from various parts of the M^orld 

 have been brought during a long course of years to the 

 Zoological Gardens of London ; but as Youatt, who attended 

 the animals as a veterinary surgeon, remarks, " few or none 

 die of the rot, but they are phthisical ; not one of them from 

 a torrid climate lasts out the second year, and when they dio 

 their lungs are tuberculated." *' There is very good evidence 

 that English breeds of sheep will not succeed in France.*** 

 Even in certain parts of England it has been found im- 



** ' Racen des Zahinen Schafes,' s. sheep with Leicesters, see Youatt, p 



1 1 . 



325. 



** ' Rural Economy of Norfolk, ' voL *' Youatt on Sheep, note, p. 491. 



ii. p. 136- ** M. Malingie-Nouel Journal R. 



*• Youatt on Sheep, p. 312. On Agricult. Soc, vol. xiv. 1853, p. 214. 



same subject, see excellent remarks in Translated and therefore approved bj 



'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1858, p. 8t38. a great authority, Mr. Pusey. 

 For experiments in crossing Cheviot 



