370 
THE ALPACA.—NO. 7 . 
from our pastures than it could on the Peruvian 
mountains. The wool of the female is shorter, but 
equally fine and lustrous. 
Under date of May 31st, I was favored with 
the annexed from A. G. Stirling, Esq., of Craig- 
barnet Place, Lennoxtown, near Glasgow :—“ I 
received your letter concerning the alpaca, &c. It 
had for several years been my wish to procure a 
couple of these animals from their native moun¬ 
tains ; but, after various attempts, I found I could 
not succeed. Latterly, however, I was fortunate 
enough to obtain'a male and female from the Earl 
of Derby’s stock, which were sent here about the 
latter end of last August. My motive was —first, 
that, considering the great altitude at which alpacas 
live at home, and the sort of food they subsist 
•upon, I thought that our hilly bent in Scotland, 
which neither sheep, cow., nor horse, will eat, 
might prove well adapted for them, taking into ac¬ 
count the coarser herbage upon which they thrive ; 
secondly , I wished to keep these Peruvians in my 
sheep-park with the sheep, in front of the house, 
so that I might be enabled to form an opinion of 
their habits, &c. 
e£ Now, sir, from ten months’ observation, I am 
enabled to state, that I have found them most docile, 
mild in temper, and never attempting to break a 
fence, and agreeing perfectly well with the sheep 
and young lambs. During our last winter, which 
was more severe than usual in this country, with 
many vicissitudes as to climate, and attended with 
weeks of deep snow, I thought it necessary to com¬ 
mence giving them some food, and began with 
rye-grass hay and turnip. After some little time, 
the keeper told me that they were not eating the 
rye-grass hay so ; well as at first. I then desired 
that a Coarser kind of meadow hay should be given 
to them. This they greedily ate, and left the other. 
They next seemed to tire of the turnip, and I ordered 
each of them to have a handful of oats, which they 
ate freely of at first. However, in about three 
weeks, they also became indifferent to the oats. A 
handful of beans was next tried ; they fell to them 
most greedily, and never lost their relish for them. 
By way of experiment, I desired the keeper to, mix 
the oats and beans together ; and, as a proof of 
their partiality for the beans, it may be stated, that 
they picked the latter out, and left the oats; which, 
if they are to b.e winter-fed, evinces that meadow 
hay and beans is the food they like, and would 
thrive upon. 
“ A small shed had been put up in the park for 
them, to which they generally resorted at night; 
but, when the snow was at the deepest, and the 
wind blowing hard and piercing, these animals left 
their shed, and picked up what grass they could 
get at the roots of trees. This shows that they are 
impervious to cold. Not so the sheep, for they 
were then cowering down under shelter, wherever 
they could find it; which proves to me that our 
climate would agree well with alpacas, and that 
they would exist where our sheep would die. We 
hope that the female is with young, which time 
will show. Both male and female are jet black, 
and there is a small speck of white, about the size 
of a shilling, upon the nose of the male. In so far 
as my experience goes, I can safely say that they 
have never had a day’s illness, since they came 
here. Their clip of last year amounted to 17£ lbs., 
which are beautiful silky fleeces, and which said 
silky wool is still in my possession.” 
The introduction of the alpaca into the mountains 
of Ireland is a new and important feature in the 
experiment. The attempt was first made by Robt. 
Beil, Esq., of Villa House, near Listowel, in the 
county of Kerry, a practical and observant farmer, 
who seems to have started with the determination 
of treating the animals, as nearly as he could, with 
the same fare, and, in the same manner, as they are 
on their native hills—that is, no petting, and plenty 
of exposure. This is by far the most judicious 
plan, and it is to be regretted that it has not been 
adopted earlier. Subjoined is an extract from a 
report addressed to me by that gentleman, under 
date of March 18.th :— 
“ Agreeably to your request, I have much plea¬ 
sure in giving you a brief statement relative to the 
small herd of alpacas which we have here. These 
beautiful and interesting animals arrived at this 
place in the summer of 1842, previous to which, 
after being landed at Liverpool from their native 
mountains in Peru, they were kept in that neigh- 
, borbood for some time. They are the only animals 
of this kind ever introduced into this country, and 
have been admired by numbers of persons, many of 
( whom came very long distances to see them. Of 
course, it is quite unnecessary to give you a 
description of these graceful creatures; for any one 
who has perused your publication on the Naturali¬ 
zation of the Alpaca , and has seen and observed the 
habits of the animal in question,, will readily per¬ 
ceive how thoroughly you are acquainted with the 
subject of your work in its minutest details; but I 
may inform you, that the alpacas on this farm are of 
various colors, some being brown, others black, and 
one perfectly white. They have no-t been shorn 
since the month of June, 1841, and the average 
length of their wool at this time is eleven inches, 
and so firm to their bodies, that the smallest lock 
cannot be pulled off without great force; therefore, 
they never lose a bit. It is exceedingly fine and 
silky ; indeed, very much finer than any alpaca 
wool I have yet seen imported into England ; and, 
during the two years they have been here, there is 
a visible improvement in the texture of their coat, 
and I think that the wool of the alpaca lamb here is 
superior in fineness even to that of the vicuna. I 
have frequently examined them very closely, but 
could never find upon them a wool-tick, or any 
vermin whatever, to which ordinary sheep are sub¬ 
ject; and I was very much afraid, during the ex¬ 
ceedingly hot weather which we had last summer, 
that, from their great weight of fleece, they would 
be attacked by the fly; but I am glad to say that no 
such casualty befell them, although sheep, con¬ 
tiguous to their pasture, were much injured by it. 
I have never, even after a whole day’s rain, found 
them wet to the skin; for their wool, on becoming 
wet. on the outside or* surface, mats together, and 
becomes quite impervious to the heaviest showers. 
I certainly do not exaggerate when I say, that each 
of the old alpacas here would clip at this time up¬ 
wards of thirty pounds of wool.” 
The introduction of the Peruvian sheep into the 
United States was strenuously recommended by 
1 Mr. Win. D. Robinson, as long ago as 1824.. He 
