128 MODERN SHEEP: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



at a single meal. It is so small that when full grown it can hide 

 behind a good-sized bucket. It takes its name from that part of 

 France where it is most raised. A writer says of this tiny ovine : 

 "If not a profitable sheep, it is a dear little creature for a pet, for 

 it is very gentle, and, because it is so small, it is not such a nuisance 

 about the house as was the celebrated lamb which belonged to the 

 little girl named Mary. Any little girl could find room in her lap 

 for a Breton sheep. One of this little creature's peculiarities is 

 its extreme sympathy with the feelings of its human friends, when 

 it has been brought up a pet in the house, and has learned to dis- 

 tinguish between happiness and unhappiness. If any person whom 

 it likes is very much pleased about anything, and shows it by 

 laughing, the little sheep will frisk about with every sign of joy, 

 but if, on the contrary, the person shed tears, the sympathetic 

 friend will evince its sorrows in an equally unmistakable way." 



ORKNEY ISLAND SHEEP. 



Among the very small breeds of sheep is the Orkney Island 

 sheep. They are nothing but mere toys compared to some of our 

 improved breeds, and are said to have very little commercial value. 



SHETLAND SHEEP. 



Another small breed of sheep is the Shetland. As its name 

 would imply this breed, if it might be truly called a breed, is a 

 native of the Shetland Islands, and from its silk-like fleece, the 

 famous Shetland shawls are made. 



Shetland sheep, whose wool is remarkable for its fineness and 

 softness, are rarely sheared. Instead of being clipped in the 

 ordinary way, their wool is plucked out by hand once a year. 



In the year 1790 a committee appointed by the Highland 

 Society, of Scotland, prepared a report on Shetland sheep and wool 

 and according to that report there were at that time not less than 

 100,000 sheep in the Shetland Isles and in all probability more. 

 The report says further : "Their fleeces, which at an average do not 

 produce above 11/2 lb. of wool each, are not worth at present above 

 sixpence a pound ; whereas the finest wool might fetch at least five 

 shillings per pound. If the same breed were reared in the Hebrides 

 and the Orkney Islands (where they would thrive equally well) 

 wool might be produced in those neglected parts of Great Britain 

 to the value perhaps of half a million." The report states that the 

 finest wool was produced by the hardiest sheep, those which were 

 never housed nor kept in any particular pasture and which in 

 winter were at times so pinched for food that many of them were 

 obliged to feed on the seaweed on the beach. The healthiest sheep, 

 it was noticed, were those which lived on the hills entirely and 

 never touched seaweed. It was not usual to shear or clip the sheep 



