BOOK VII. III. 12-15 



phenomena, advises that in the breeding season we 

 should look out for breezes from the north on dry 

 days, so as to pasture the flock facing this wind, and 

 that the male should cover the female looking in that 

 direction; if, on the other hand, female births are 

 desired, we should seek for southern breezes, so that 

 the ewes may be covered in the same manner. The 

 device, which was described in the preceding book," 

 of tying up the right or left testicle of the ram with a 

 band, is difficult to carry out in large flocks. 



After the lambing season the bailiff in charge of 13 

 the sheep on an outlying estate reserves almost all the 

 young offspring for pasture ; and in a section near town 

 hands over the tender lambs, before they have begun 

 to graze, to the butcher, since it costs only a little to 

 convey them to the town and also, when they have 

 been taken away, no slighter profit is made out of 

 the milk from their mothers. Even in the neighbour- 

 hood of a town, however, one lamb in five will have to 

 be left with its mother, for an animal born on the 

 spot is much more profitable than one broiight from a 

 distance, nor ought the mistake be made of letting 14 

 the whole flock become exhausted by age and leave 

 the owner without any stock, especially as it is the 

 first duty of a good shepherd every year to substitute 

 the same number of sheep, or even more, in place of 

 those which have died or are diseased, since the 

 severity of the cold and winter often surprises the shep- 

 herd and causes the death of those ewes which he had 

 failed to remove from the flock in the autumn because 

 he thought them still able to stand the cold. These 

 mishaps are also further reason why no ewe, unless it 15 

 is very strorig, should be caught unprepared by winter 

 "Book VI. 28. 



S47 



