94 O V I S. 
he fave himfelf by timely flight. Again ft: the attacks of 
lingle dogs or foxes, when in this fituation, they are per- 
feftly fecure. A ram, regardlefs of danger, will often 
engage a bull 5 and, his forehead being much harder than 
that of any other animal, he feldom fails to conquer; for 
the bull, by lowering his head, receives the ftroke of the 
ram between his eyes, which ufually brings him to the 
ground.” 
We are now to enumerate the varieties which have 
fprung from the Ovis aries, or rather (as it is faid) from 
the O. ammon. 
«. O. Anglica, the English ftieep. The various breeds 
and crofs-breeds of the flieep in this country have been 
lufliciently explained under the article Husbandry, 
vol. x. 497-502. and the management of them, their 
difeafes excepted, at p. 522-5. 
The Linnasar. charafter of the O. Anglica is—hornlefs, 
with the fcrotum hanging as low as the knees. Some of 
our Englifli ftieep, however, have horns; and we ftiall 
give a delineation of each fort. Fig. 1. on the annexed 
Plate, a hornlefs ftieep of the South-Down polled kind, 
from the ftock of the late duke of Bedford at Woburn; 
and fig. 2. is one of the horned Norfolk breed, from Mr. 
Coke’s farm at Holkham. We refer to the before-cited 
article, p. 497, 498, for the defcription. 
In Ireland, ftieep are kept on account of their milk; 
the fame thing is common in Caermarthenlhire ; and lefs 
frequent in other parts of Great Britain. 
The native Irifti ftieep are of a fmall fize, and have a 
great refemblance to the mountain-flieep in South Wales, 
being covered with nearly as much hair as wool. They 
are thin in the fore-quarters, narrow in the loins, and ex¬ 
hibit the fame aflivity as the Norfolk breed. Some of 
this fpecies are ftill to be met with, and are purchafed 
from the mountains by gentlemen for their own ufe. 
They are not bought till they have attained the age of 
three or four years, and, when properly fed, they make 
delicious mutton ; but the importation of Englifli flieep 
lias long ago altered the general breed, as has been the 
cafe in regard to the native Irifti cattle. Whether this 
change was effefted by admixture with the Tweed-fide 
or the Leicefterftiire flieep, cannot eafily be determined ; 
but it is certain that the Englifli and Irifli breeds were in¬ 
termixed long before Bakewell’s day; and, confidering 
the appearance of the Irifli flieep at prefent, they feem to 
participate in the characters, as to wool and carcafs, of the 
Romney-marfli fpecies, though there can be none of thefe 
in Ireland. Wakefield's Account of Ireland, 1813. 
The following are inftances of extraordinary fecundity 
in this ufeful animal.—In the month of May, 1810, Mr. 
Meeds, of Mavis Enderby, Lincolnfliire, bought a Nor¬ 
folk ewe and lamb: in March 1811, the ewe yeaned three 
lambs; in 1812, four lambs; 1813, three lambs; 1814, 
two lambs; 1815, four lambs.; 1816, two lambs; 1817, 
three lambs; 1818, five lambs; total, 26 lambs in 8 years. 
—May 12, 1818, a South-Down ewe, the property of Mr. 
James Nixon, a farmer, refiding at Knockhalt, near Se- 
venoaks, Kent, brought forth five lambs, all alive, three 
of which flie fuckled, and the whole five were brought up. 
—William Barton, who refides near Afliford in Kent, had 
an ewe, which, before it was a year old, yeaned a lamb ; at 
two years old, two lambs; at three years old, three lambs ; 
at four years old, four lambs; and, when the animal died, 
in Feb. 1818, at the age of five years, her body contained 
five perfeCf lambs. 
Monfters are not uncommon among the flieep kind.— 
In 1805, a lamb was yeaned at Mr. Brown’s, of High 
Winder, Weftmoreland, with eight legs, two bodies, two 
necks, but only one head.—In 1809, a long Scotch ewe, 
on Mr. Lowthian’s farm, at Brifcoe, near Carlifle, yeaned 
a tup-lamb with five perfeCt legs; the fifth leg was fitu- 
ated near the navel: this animal lived to be brought up, 
as did the following more-extraordinary monfter. — In 
1811, an ewe belonging to Mr. C. Shoubridge, of With- 
dean, near Brighton, brought forth a lamb with three 
ftioulders, five legs, and fix feet. This extraordinary- 
little animal was feen gamboling about with the reft of the 
flock, as healthy and nimble as the moft perfeCt amongft 
them. J 
The confumption of flieep and lambs in London is efti- 
mated (1818) at 1,620,700, of horned cattle 164,000. 
/ 3 . O. ruftica, the Spanifti coarfe-woolled flieep : horned ; 
tail fhort; wool fliort and coarfe. 
y. O. Hifpanica, the Spanilh fine-woolled flieep •• horns 
fpiral, lengthened outwards; wool fine, and plentiful. 
The general mode of managing the Spanifti flocks is de¬ 
tailed under the article Mesta, vol. xv. p. 192. but, to 
what has been faid in the article Husbandry, vol. x. 
p. 497, on the fubjeCt of the merino breed, we muft add 
a few particulars. 
Merino Sheep. —In this breed of flieep, the males have 
horns, but the females are without them. They have, 
according to lord Somerville, white faces and legs; the 
body not very perfeCf in fliape ; rather long in the legs ; 
fine in the bone ; a degree of throatinefs, or production of 
loofe pendulous fkin under the neck; and the pelt fine 
and clear; weight, when tolerably fat, per quarter, in the 
rams about 17]bs. in the ewes nibs, the wool very fine. 
See the Plate, fig. 2 and 3. 
His late majefty took the lead in the introduction of the 
merino breed into this country, and his firft flock was 
imported in 1792; but other nations feem to have got the 
ftart in this refpeCt, as Sweden had them even in 1723, 
where they have fince greatly increafed ; and in France, 
Germany, and fome other ftates, they were probably 
known long before. They have lately fpread much in 
this country, and been greatly improved in different re- 
fpeCts, by judicious eroding with other forts. The horns 
in the true merino rams are now of a middle fize ; the 
faces and legs darkifh-white, the latter rather inclined to 
be too long. The wool is uncommonly fine, and weighs 
about 3jlbs. to the fleece, not being liable to deteriorate 
in this climate. The fleeces have a dark-brown tinge in 
their furfaces, formed by duft flicking on the greafy yolky 
property of its pile ; the contrail between which and the 
rich white-coloured wethers, and the rofy hue of the flein, 
is very ftriking on the firft view. 
The interell which the merinos had excited, was greatly 
increafed by the fales from his late majefty’s flock, which 
began in the year 1804. The definable objeCl of fpreading 
them widely over the country, and fubjeCling them to the 
experiments of the moll eminent profeffional breeders, 
has been greatly promoted by the inftitution of the Me¬ 
rino Society, in 1811, which now comprehends fome of 
the greateft landholders, and the moft eminent breeders, 
in the kingdom. 
Here we cannot help digrefling, to introduce a quota¬ 
tion from old Stowe. In his Chronicle, under the year 
1464, he has the following paffage: “ Shepe tran/ported 
into Spain. This yere king Edward IV. gave a licenfe to 
pas over certein Cottefwolde fhepe into Spain ; by reafon 
whereof, it has come to pafs, at this day, that the ftaple 
of wolls of Spain, kept at Brydges in Flanders, is fo 
great, that our ftaple is nothing comparable to it.” From 
which it appears, that the wool which we have for centu¬ 
ries imported from Spain, and upon which our fineft fa¬ 
brics of woollen are manufadlured, is the produce of flieep 
originally bred in our own country. It appears, there¬ 
fore, worthy of enquiry, whether the Cottefwold breed 
has degenerated, and from what caufe ; whether the 
breed of 1464 is extinfl; how it was improved in Spain, 
and ftill holds its value above Britifh wool in countries 
whofe agricultural improvements have not kept pace with 
ours ; and how far it is poflible to produce the fineft wool 
in this country, without the importation of merino-rams 
as a crofs to the offspring of their anceftors. 
We now return to the particular fubjeft of this variety 
of fheep.—The term merino, in the Spanifli language, is 
an adjeflive, derived from the corrupt Latin merinus, or 
majorinus ; when united with ovejas, it fignifies the royal 
1 judge 
