188 
DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 
little difficulty about this. If it is at first fed with warm sheep’s or cow’s 
milk, by means of a spoon, until it is old enough to snck out of a suck- 
ing-bottle, it will soon begin to bleat for its food, and greedily meet the 
bottle the moment that it is presented to it, 
The cuckoo lambs will require the particular attention of the shep- 
herd. They are those that are dropped later than the others, when the 
cuckoo is just making his appearance, and after whom they are named. 
They are usually the progeny of very young or very old mothers, who 
were not impregnated so soon as the others, and who generally are not 
so strong and so hardy as the rest of the flock. Care must be taken 
that they have sufficient, yet not too nutritive food ; and that the dis- 
eases to which weakly lambs are subject are promptly attended to. 
Some ewes will permit other lambs beside their own to suck them, 
and then there will possibly be one or more greedy lambs, who will 
wander about from ewe to ewe, robbing the rightful owner of the greater 
part of his share. lie and his mother must be removed to another pas- 
ture, where he will soon learn to satisfy his voracious appetite with the 
grass. As the shepherd takes his round he should inspect every lamb. 
If one does not appear to thrive, he shonld endeavor to ascertain the 
cause, lias the mother any or sufficient milk ? Are the teats free from 
disease? He should cither supply the deficient nutriment, or provide a 
foster-mother. Does the milk disagree with the lamb? Is there any 
or considerable purging? The calves and sheep’s cordial must be im- 
mediately resorted to; and, if necessary, nursing, or separation from the 
mother. In two or three weeks, and often considerably sooner, the 
lambs will begin to nibble a little gracs. Is it too luxuriant for them, or 
has it been eaten down close by the ewes, and is the owner thinking of 
providing a fresh pasture ? Let him beware ! There is no situation in 
which the old advice of not making “more haste and good speed” 
should be more carefully heeded than in this. If one paramount cause 
of disease, and fatal disease to lambs, were selected, it would be a sud- 
den change from bare to luxuriant pasture. It often sets up a degree of 
inflammatory fever, which no depletion will extinguish, or a diarrhoea 
which no astringent can check. 
The technical term which the shepherd applies to the lamb diseased 
from this cause is gall-lamb. The, liver seems to be the principal scat of 
inflammation, and a great quantity of bile or gall is found in the duodenum 
and small intestines ; a portion of it has frequently regurgitated into the 
abomasum or fourth stomach, and some has entered into the circulation, 
and tinged the skin and flesh of a yellow color. It is a disease which 
very speedily runs its course ; occasionally carrying off its victims in a 
little more than twelve hours, and seldom lasting more than three days. 
Immediate bleeding in the early stage, and afterward Epsom salts, with 
a small portion of ginger, will afford the only chance of a cure. The 
poor animal is often condemned and slaughtered at once — that is bar- 
barous work. 
Castration. — There is a great difference of opinion as to the time when 
the tup-lambs that are not intended to be kept for breeding should bo 
castrated. Some recommend the performance of this operation as early 
as three days after the birth. Mr. Parkinson says that “ he has several 
