SHEEP. 277 
of the forest.’ 9 — — This picture is, however,, too 
highly coloured. 
The ewe usually produces only one lamb at a 
time. There are generally., however,, a good 
many instances of two, in a flock ; and on some 
very singular occasions, one parent will produce 
three lambs at a birth. It is observable of this spe- 
cies, that they drink very little. The juice of the 
vegetables which they eat, and the dew and rain 
with which the grass is often moistened, supply 
almost all the moisture that they need. 
Sheep, like other animals, are liable to various 
diseases. Water often gathers in their head, and 
produces a disorder which soon proves fatal ; the 
feet of whole flocks are often affected with a sort 
of mortification, which makes them halt when 
they walk, and renders them almost unable to 
run ; at other times, the young especially, are 
liable to suffer a speedy death from the effects 
of noxious air evolved from their food in the sto- 
mach. The dropsy, phthisic, jaundice, and 
worms in the liver, are also annually destructive 
to considerable numbers of sheep. Several sorts 
of insects infest this animal. A certain gadfly 
is very troublesome, by depositing its eggs above 
the nose, in the frontal sinuses ; a tick and a louse 
likewise feed on the sheep ; of which it is some- 
times relieved by the undistinguishing appetite of 
the magpie and the starling. The ordinary term 
of the life of those sheep which escape disease 
and violence, is twelve or thirteen years. 
The benefits which mankind owe to this animal 
are very numerous. Its horns, its fleece, its flesh, 
its tallow, and even its bowels, are all articles 
of great utility to human life. 
The horns are manufactured into spoons, "and 
many other useful articles. The manufacture of 
the wool into cloths, has long formed the principal 
