SHORTER ARTICLES AND CORRESPONDENCE 



OTTER SHEEP 



The following account of the "otter" sheep occurs in Vol. Ill, 

 p. 134, of President Timothy Dwight's Travels in New England 

 and New York ; New Haven, 1822. It is more explicit than any 

 I have seen before, and may be of interest to naturalists. The 

 date of the journey in which this account appears was about 1798. 



Mendon, the township mentioned, is in Massachusetts, about 

 eighteen miles southeast of Worcester. 



"In this township, if I have been correctly informed, an ewe, belong- 

 ing to one of the fanners, had twins, which he observed to differ in 

 their structure from any other sheep in this part of the country; partic- 

 ularly the fore legs were much shorter, and were bent inward, so as 

 distantly to resemble what are called club feet. Their bodies were, at 



were observed to be more gentle, less active, less incline,! to wander 

 than other sheep, and unable to climb the stone walls with which this 

 region abounds. They were of different sexes. The proprietor, there- 



The attempt was successful. The proven v h;i,l the eha raeterisi i.-s 



v,-r cxliibiled the least discernible i 

 "These sheep are called the Otter 

 imal of that name. Their flesh is f 

 >ol not inferior to that of common 

 fineness. But their peculiar vah 

 lich they continue in any enclosure. 



of 111,. ,1... 



