$& SHEEP. 



Chap. III. 



from the frontal bone, and then take a beautiful spiral form ; 

 in the ewes they protrude nearly at right angles from the head, 

 and then become twisted in a singular manner." 82 Mr. Hodgson 

 states that the extraordinarily arched nose or chafTron, which 

 is so highly developed in several foreign breeds, is characteristic 

 of the ram alone, and apparently is the result of domestica- 

 tion. 83 I hear from Mr. Blyth that the accumulation of fat in 

 the fat-tailed sheep of the plains of India is greater in the male 

 than in the female; and Fitzinger 84 remarks that the mane in 

 the African maned race is far more developed in the ram than 

 in the ewe. 



Different races of sheep, like cattle, present constitutional 

 differences. Thus the improved breeds arrive at maturity at an 

 early age, as has been well shown by Mr. Simonds through their 

 early average period of dentition. The several races have become 

 adapted to different kinds of pasture and climate : for instance, 

 no one can rear Leicester sheep on mountainous regions, where 

 Cheviots nourish. As Youatt has remarked, " In all the dif- 

 ferent districts of Great Britain we find various breeds of sheep 

 beautifully adapted to the locality which they occupy. No one 

 knows their origin ; they are indigenous to the soil, climate, pas- 

 turage, and the locality on which they graze ; they seem to have 

 been formed for it and by it." 85 Marshall relates 86 that a flock 

 of heavy Lincolnshire and light Norfolk sheep which had been 

 bred together in a large sheep-walk, part of which was low, rich, 

 and moist, and another part high and dry, with benty grass, 

 when turned out, regularly separated from each other ; the heavy 

 sheep drawing off to the rich soil, and the lighter sheep to 

 their own soil ; so that " whilst there was plenty of grass the 

 two breeds kept themselves as distinct as rooks and pigeons." 

 Numerous sheep from various parts of the world have been 

 brought during a long course of years to the Zoological Gardens 

 of London ; but as Youatt, who attended the animals as a vete- 



82 Youatt on Sheep, p. 138. 86 Youatt on Sheep, p. 312. Ou 



83 'Journal Asiat. Soc. of Bengal,' same subject, see excellent remarks in 

 vol. xvi., 1847, pp. 1015, 1016. ' Gardener's Chronicle,' 1858, p. 868. 



84 'Eacen des Zahmen Schafes,' s. For experiments in crossing Cheviot 

 77. sheep with Leicesters, see Youatt, p. 



85 ■ Kural Economy of Norfolk,' vol. 325. 

 ii. p. 136. 



