SHEEP. 



sors used in clipping iicdges and pru- 

 ning young branciios ; they are often 

 worked by a rope at the end of a 

 long handle. Sheep-shears are well 

 known : they have been unimproved 

 in ages. 



SHEEP. Opis arie.s. The follow- 

 ing is principally from Mr. Youatt 

 and Mr. Spooner, the two best wri- 

 ters on sheep : 



" The sheep belongs to the class 

 mammalia, to the order rumi>ia>itia, 

 with four stomachs, and tiie organs 

 of digestion disposed for chewing the 

 cud ; to the trii)e capridce, with horns 

 persistent, and placed on an osseous 

 nucleus ; and to the genus oi-is, with 

 or without horns, but these, when : 

 present, uniformly taking, to a greater ! 

 or less degree, a lateral and spiral 

 direction. The foreheadof the sheep 

 is arched, and protruded before the 

 base of the horns ; there are no lach- 

 rymal ducts ; the nostrils are length- 

 ened and oblique, and terminate with- 

 out a muzzle ; there is no beard prop- 

 erly so called ; the cars are small, and 

 the legs slender. The hair is of two 

 kinds, one hard and close, and the 

 other woolly, the wool prepondera- 

 ting in proportion as the animal is 

 domesticated. 



" There is a breed of sheep now 

 extending over the north and south 

 of Asia, and Palestine, and Russia, 

 and of which the flocks of the Cal- 

 nuicks and Tartars of the present 

 day are almost entirely composed. 

 They are distinguished by two mass- 

 es of fat commencing at the loins, 

 gradually swelling into a considera- 

 ble mass towards the rump, and pre- 

 senting behind two enlargements of 

 a more or less globular form. The 

 owners of the modern improved 

 breeds would find great fault with 

 some points about them ; but many 

 of their defects have doubtless been 

 the result of neglect. 



" Some naturalists have traced the 

 origin of the sheep to the Argali or 

 the Mouflon. The Argali is a spe- 

 cies of mountain-sheep, found in small 

 flocks on the high grounds of Asia, 

 extending from the precipices of 

 Khamtschatka in the north, to those ! 



of Mongolia in the centre, and of 

 Caucasus in Western Asia. The 

 Mouflon is an inhabitant of Southern 

 Europe, Corsica, (Jrete, and the isl- 

 ands of the Gre(!ian Archi[)elago. 

 They congregate in large groups, and 

 possess all the wildness of the .\rgali. 

 j Neither of these, however, has the 

 j slightest claim to being the original 

 I parent of the sheep. They are de- 

 scendants of tlu).se who have escaped 

 from the donunion of man, and are 

 retreating from desert to desert, in 

 I i)roportion as the population of the 

 country increases. 



" It will be most satisfactory to the 

 reader to commence with the history 

 of the Briti-sh sheep, and then com- 

 pare with them the breeds and man- 

 agement in other countries. 



" Dilierent names are given to the 

 sheep, according to its sex and age. 

 The male is called a ram or tup. 

 After weaning, he is said to be a hog; 

 a hou-gct, or hoggcrd, a lamb hog, or 

 tup hog, or teg; and if castrated, a 

 wether hog. After shearing, and when 

 he is probably a year or a year and a 

 half old, he is called a shear hog, 

 shearling, dinmont, or tup ; and when 

 castrated, a shearing wether. After 

 the second shearing, he is a tico-shear 

 ram, tup, iccther. At the expiration 

 of another year, he is a three-shear 

 ram. 



" The female is a cwc or gimmer 

 lamb until weaned, and then a gim- 

 mer or ewe hog, or teg. After being 

 shorn, she is a shearing ewe, gimmer, 

 theatc, or double-toothed ewe ; and 

 after that, a tu-o, or three, or four, or 

 shear ewe, or thcave. The age of the 

 sheep is reckoned, not from the pe- 

 riod of their being dropped, but from 

 the first shearing. 



" The teeth give certain indications 

 as to the age. The sheep has no 

 incisor teeth in the upper jaw ; but 

 there is a dense elastic cushion or 

 pad, and the herbage, firmly held be- 

 tween the front teeth in the lower 

 ja\V and this cushion, is partly bitten 

 and partly torn asunder. The sheep 

 has the whole of the incisor teeth by 

 the time that he is a month old, and 

 he retains them until the fourteenth 



691 



