THE COMMON SHEEP. 499 



" The original colour of the sheep was undoubtedly dark 

 brown, and the change from this colour to white must have 

 been the work of time and judicious breeding. Most writers 

 on the sheep impute, and perhaps justly, the first improvement 

 in this respect to the skill of Jacob. However this may be, 

 white flocks were common at an early date, and in our western 

 portion of the globe have long been universal j still, however, 

 as if to show that Nature, though controlled, is not to be 

 subdued, we see lingering traces of the dark brown in many 

 of our breeds -, this colour prevailing about the face, and on 

 the legs : and now and then a black or dark-coloured lamb 

 may be noticed in the midst of a flock of snowy whiteness -, 

 indicating, by its presence, how easy would be the transition 

 from the acquired, but common colour of our races, to that of 

 their primeval parents. The sheep is pre-eminently a wool- 

 bearing animal ; yet many races [in the hotter regions, more 

 particularly of the African continent,] seem to be destitute of 

 this covering, and to be clothed with short hair, or, indeed, 

 if it be essentially wool, it so closely resembles hair as not to 

 be distinguishable from it unless by means of a powerful micro- 

 scope. The essential character of wool, as distinguished from 

 hair, consists in its surface being covered with imbricated 

 scales, upon the presence of which, and its waviness, depends 

 its property of felting, that is of being worked up into a firm 

 tenacious mass, by the interlocking of the scales of such fibres 

 as are twisted together with the scales in opposite direc- 

 tions."* 



To describe the general conformation of the sheep is unne- 

 cessary ; but there are some points worthy of observation. 

 Underneath each eye is a large and deep sinus, or slit, which is 

 concealed from observation by the woolly clothing of the animal j 

 between and at the base of the toes is a sac lined with hair, and 

 furnished with sebaceous follicles for the secretion of a lubri- 

 cating fluid j and the tail naturally, it would seem, reaches to 

 the ground. 



* The Menageries (1840), vol. iii. p. 403. 



2 K <2 



