THE BLACK-FACED HEATH BREED. 89 



ewes is in a corresponding degree larger than when the pro- 

 geny is kept to the age of wethers. In general, one shep- 

 herd is reckoned sufficient for twenty-five scores of ewes, but 

 for a much greater number of young sheep and wethers. 



The rams are admitted to the ewes about the 22d of No- 

 vember, so that the season of lambing may not begin before 

 the tardy vegetation of spring may be expected. During the 

 months of winter, the pregnant ewes are suffered to range 

 over those parts of the farm where food can be picked up ; 

 the rushes, sedges, and other herbaceous plants mixed with 

 the heaths, affording a scanty subsistence, rendered precari- 

 ous by the falls of snow which often cover these dreary wastes 

 for weeks or months at a time. The artificial provender that 

 can be supplied is confined to a little coarse hay during deep 

 snows, but even this is often wanting, and all the food sup- 

 plied is what the animals can collect on their natural pas- 

 tures. These wild and hardy Sheep, however, dig up the 

 snowy surface to reach the herbs beneath, and support life 

 under circumstances in which the more delicate races would 

 perish. Yet, as it is, many die from the inclemency of the 

 weather and the want of food, and numbers often are over- 

 whelmed by falls of snow so sudden and violent that there is 

 no escape. In districts where the mountains are of less 

 elevation, and artificial shelter can be supplied, the condi- 

 tion of these mountain flocks is in a corresponding degree 

 less precarious ; but, generally, they are placed in situations 

 which subject them to the evil of frequent destitution. 



When the season of lambing arrives, the ewes are often 

 in a very emaciated condition ; but such good and hardy 

 nurses are these mountain Sheep, that they are able to bring 

 up their young under privations which few other breeds 

 could contend against. The shearing of them takes place 

 about the beginning of July. The ewes, as well as the 

 other grown sheep on the farm, are driven to a river or 

 pool, and made to leap from the bank and swim across. 

 The same care is rarely bestowed on washing these wild 



