2*22 DISEASES OF SHEEP. 



SECTION XIV. 



SORE HEADS 



This disease is connected with, or often produced by, the striking 

 of the fly, and especially in woody countries. Next to the tail, the 

 head is the part most frequently and seriou'sly attacked, and indefend- 

 inir themselves from their tormentors, tiie sheep are continually 

 striking tlieir heads with their hind feet, until at length a considerable 

 sore or ulcer is formed. No sooner is this done, than the fly perse- 

 cutes the poor animal with tenfold fury, anxious to lay its eggs on or 

 near the wound ; and the ulcer will often spread so far and so rapidly, 

 as to be very diflicult to heal, and occasionally it will destroy the 

 sheep. 



I'he first thing to be done is to procure a cap or covering for the 

 head, made of soft leather, or of brown paper, if leather cannot be 

 procured. This should be cut so as to protect the whole of the head, 

 and yet not to come too close to the eyes. Then the following oint- 

 ment must be prepared : — 



RECIPE (No. 20). 



Oivtmevt for Sore flead.t —Take lilack pitch, two pounds ; tar, one pound ; flowera 

 •)f ?ul|)liur, OIK" pound. Melt IIkmii in an iron pot over a very ?lo\v fire, .stirring lo- 

 pettier tiie iiiirredieiits as tiiey hc^in to melt, but carefully watciiinjr the compound, 

 and rcniovinfr the pot from the tire the moment the ingredients arc well mixed, and 

 before they begin to boil, for they would then rapidly swell to an extraordinary ex- 

 tent, and the w hole mass would run over into the fire. 



While this ointment is warm and soft, it should be thickly spread 

 upon the leather, and the cap fitted to the head. If this be done in 

 the evening, when the fly begins to cease to torment the sheep, the 

 animal uill be quiet, and the ointment will gradually cool, and stick 

 close to the head. 



vSome spread the ointment over the head without the cap, making 

 a kind of charge, a few flocks of wool being scattered over the top 

 of it; and if it should be somewhat too liquid for this purpose, it is 

 stiflVned by the addition of a little yellow resin. It is difficult, how- 

 ever, to confine the ointment to the sore when it is thus applied, and 

 it is very apt to run over the eyelid and the face, to the great annoy- 

 ance of the animal. 



In some parts of Scotland there is another disease of the head that 

 is speedily fatal. If the sheep are suffered to rest for i^he night neai 

 the summit of the Grampians, or the hills of Galloway, the head will 

 become enormously swelled, and ulcers will break out, as if the animal 

 had been bitten by a venomous reptile. A great portion of the scalp 

 often comes ofiT, and the animal generally dies. The shepherds there 

 call it the heod-ill, and the malady is kept from spreading only by 

 removing the flock from these elevated and dangerous spots. Th* 

 cause of this disease is uncertain : probably it is produced by the eai. 

 ing of som*' poisonous plant. 



