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OUR DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



Very Fine Cheviot Ram 



Photo J. T. Newman, Berkhanipstead 



the ends of his knitting needles into his waist- 

 band, like an old Englishwoman. The shep- 

 herd's costume admits of all imaginable variet)*, 

 but is never in the latest fashion. Over his or- 

 dinary clothes he invariably wears a cloak in case 

 of rain, though some, more effeminate, carry an 

 umbrella slung obliquely across their backs. 



Nearly all the sheep have 

 bells or rattles fastened around 

 their necks by a leather strap. 

 The monotonous tinkling of 

 these bells produces, es]3ecially 

 at starting and in returning, a 

 very pleasant sound, percepti- 

 Ijle at great distances o\'er the 

 moor, so that one often hears 

 them when no sheep are in the 

 neighborhood. 



The dog may belong to all 

 possible breeds except — I was 

 about to say — the shepherd 

 dog, but that ma)- be going too 

 far. It is usually some mongrel 

 of medium size ; sometimes, 

 though rarely, it has more or 

 less the ty];)e of the shepherd 

 dog. These animals are usually 

 wide-awake, docile, and inde- 

 fatigable. They understand 



every sign of their master, and 

 at times they seem to know 

 by intuition when a sheep is 

 wandering from the right way. 

 They can be troublesome, 

 however, by their occasional 

 rough treatment of the ewes. 

 Sometimes they will bite them 

 so sharply on the legs that it 

 causes the poor creatures to 

 bleed, andf they rush away on 

 three feet. To avoid this some 

 shepherds muzzle their dogs. 

 In the evening when the 

 flock returns slowly to the vil- 

 lage, its coming is announced 

 not only by the distant tink- 

 ling of the bells, but also by 

 the clouds of dust seen from 

 afar, which it scuffles up. When it reaches the 

 village it is really amazing to see the various por- 

 tions of the large flock detach themselves and 

 make for their own sheepcots without a word or 

 sign from the shepherd. Every sheep knows its 

 own home unless it is newly bought. When all 

 are housed the shepherd's daily work is ended. 



Oxford Down Raim 



rhoto J. r. Xi^wniaii, iieikliairpstend 



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