492 History of the Author's 



ill June, notwithstanding the warmth of the season, and the abundance of the best 

 grass and other food, remain of a diminutive size, and are weak and mishapen, in 

 comparison with those which are yeaned at an earlier period. Even this fact, how- 

 ever, is indecisive, because these Cuckoo lambs, as they are called, may have been 

 produced from ewes which did not sooner take the ram, on accour.t of infirmity, or 

 extreme youth. 



The French writers explain the matter another way, contending, that, as in the 

 case of age, the natural instinct should be obeyed, and the ewes indulged in their 

 first heats, which are not equalled in force by any of those which follow, every 9 

 or 10 days, for some weeks afterwaids. Accoraingly, they say, if these early im- 

 pulses are neglected, the ewes more frequently turn, as it is called, or fail to con< 

 ceive after copulation ; and many eventually remain barren. 



This fact has, I think, been, in some degree, proved by my experience of the 

 last season. I have mentioned above, that 47 of my ewes were impregnated from 

 ihe 13th to the 29th of September, by one ram. An accident prevented my admit- 

 ting 37 other ewes to another ram till the 7th of October. These ewes were, in 

 - every respect, similar to the former; and, in the course of a few days, my shepherd 

 saw half of them served. On the i6ih of October, the ram was observed to be 

 ill, and the next day died. These ewes had been seen to be blythsome several 

 times before the admission of the ram, and not one of them proved to be impreg- 

 nated. When they afterwards conceived by another ram, their lambs were com- 

 paratively small and feeble. 



It may be added, in confirmation of this principle, that the three 2-iooth ewes 

 before-mentioned, and which were impregnated very early in the year, notwith- 

 standing their extreme youth, brought forth fine lambs. 



From all these circumstances taken together, I think it best, a«*.far as can in 

 any degree suit our. convenience, to take advantage of an early impulse in the 

 females, in point of season. 



This end may be obtained in two methods; the first of which is to let the ram 

 remain the whole summer with the ewes; and the second to keep them separate 

 till the middle or latter end of the summer, when the natural propensity in the 

 females first commences. Each method has its conveniences and inconveniences. 



In the first, the ewes proving blythsome in slow succession, the ram is less fa- 

 tigued, and is, therefore, fiit for a greater number; and a full grown healthy ram 



