146 BIRDS OF PASSAGE. 



situation of these two different breeds might not be reversed ? 

 (However, an intelligent friend of mine near Chichester is 

 determined to try the experiment ; and has, this autumn, at 

 the hazard of being laughed at, introduced a parcel of black- 

 faced hornless rams among his horned western ewes.) The 

 black-faced poll-sheep have the shortest legs and the finest 

 wool.* 



As I had hardly ever before travelled these downs at so late 

 a season of the year, I was determined to keep as sharp a look- 

 out as possible so near the southern coast, with respect to the 

 summer short-winged birds of passage. We make great 

 inquiries concerning the withdrawing of the swallow kind, 

 without examining enough into the causes why this tribe is 

 never to be seen in winter ; for, entre nous, the disappearing 

 of the latter is more marvellous than that of the former, and 

 much more unaccountable. The kirundines, if they please, 

 are certainly capable of migration ; and yet, no doubt, are 

 often found in a torpid state: but redstarts, nightingales, 

 white-throats, black-caps, &c. &c. are very ill provided for long 

 flights ; have never been once found, as I ever heard of, in a 

 torpid state, and yet can never be supposed, in such troops, 

 from year to year, to dodge and elude the eyes of the curious 

 and inquisitive, which, from day to day, discern the other small 

 birds that are known to abide our winters. But, notwithstanding 

 all my care, I saw nothing like a summer bird of passage ; and 

 what is more strange, not one wheatear, though they abound 



* There are ten or twelve distinct varieties of the common sheep, 

 which will all breed with each other. In the mountainous districts of 

 Wales and in the Highlands of Scotland, the kind preferred is the small- 

 horned black-faced breed, remarkable for the very fine flavour of its flesh. 

 There are four distinct species ; the bearded sheep of Barbary, the argali, 

 which ranges the mountains and steeps of Northern Asia, the American 

 argali, which inhabits Canada, and the musmon of Corsica and Sardinia. 

 With regard to colour, Southey, in his Letters from Spain, says, the sheep 

 of that peninsula are nearly all black. Geraldus Cambrensis informs us 

 that the Irish in his time were usually clothed in black habiliments, 

 made from wool which did not require dying. Much has been done 

 within the last century to improve the breed in Ireland, but still, in many 

 districts, black sheep are numerous. The cloth peculiar to Scotland, 

 called hodden grey, was a manufacture from the natural fleece ; and 

 throughout the domestic farming districts, the housewives still use their 

 iniiuence to have one black lamb retained among the flock, as the wool 

 takes on the dye more kindly, and is indeed often spun into thread for 

 the stockings of the family, without receiving any artificial tinge. Indi- 

 viduals with a black covering are very common in black-faced flocks, and 

 occasionally occur among the Cheviot breed. ED. 



