68 THE SHEEP AND ITS COUSINS 



to escape. It is remarkable that these sheep feed 

 readily on animal substances. One of the greatest 

 resources in some of the islands for keeping them, 

 when no other provender exists, is fish, which are 

 dried on the rocky shores for that purpose. These 

 sheep manifest, in their habits, the rudeness of their 

 condition. The rams will often set upon the other 

 sheep of the flock if wounded, and destroy them. 

 They will furiously attack the females and new- 

 born lambs, as if, in the dreary circumscribed islets 

 they inhabit, they had acquired the instinct of 

 endeavouring to prevent the too great multipli- 

 cation of their numbers. The ewes, conscious of 

 the danger, make their escape at the time of lamb- 

 ing, that they may bring forth their young in 

 secret." 



When removed to lowland and richer pasture, 

 these sheep retain their wild habits and impatience 

 of restraint for several generations. 



Short-tailed, and frequently many-horned, sheep, 

 more or less nearly related to the loaghtan type, 

 occur, as we have seen, in Iceland, and they were at 

 one time, at any rate, spread over a considerable 

 extent of the northern countries of the European 

 Continent, such as Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. 

 They have, however, been extensively crossed with 

 long-tailed breeds, so that they are now to be found 

 mainly, or exclusively, only in the more remote 

 districts. In reply to inquiries as to the existence 



