ON LODGING, LITTER, &C. 23 



are covered with it, from cold and even frost ; but 

 extreme cold may injure their limbs, feet, muzzles, 

 and ears, if these animals did not know how to keep 

 them warm. Having laid down upon the litter, they 

 gather their limbs under them ; by huddling many 

 of them together, they shelter their head and ears 

 from the cold, in the small intervals, which are be- 

 tween them, and bury their muzzles in the wool. 

 When the weather is attended with moist and cold 

 winds, it is most painful to the sheep exposed in the 

 open air ; the weakest tremble and draw their limbs 

 together ; that is, when standing, to prevent the cold 

 from reaching the groin, and the hollows under the 

 fore shoulders, where there is neither hair nor wool. 

 But as soon as the animal moves himself, or eats, his 

 warmth is renewed, and the trembling ceases. 



Q. What proofs 'are there, that sheep can live in 

 the open air, the whole winter ? 



A. They have been kept in the open air without 

 shelter, night and day, through the whole year, near 

 the city of Montbard, in the department of La Cote 

 d'or, for more than thirty years : a flock of about three 

 hundred sheep have had no other cover for that time, 

 than a yard enclosed by walls. The racks are fix- 

 ed to the walls without any cover ; the ewes yean 

 there, the lambs have always remained there, and all 

 the animals are there maintained, in a better state, 

 than they would be in closed stables, although there 

 has been in that time, many very rainy years, and 

 the most extreme winters, particularly that of 1776. 

 It is known, particularly in England, that sheep re- 



