The domestic breeds are prodigiously diversi- 
fied, not only in modifications of the natural 
characteristics which they possess in common 
with the wild races, but in all the characters of 
shape and structure and wool and carcase and 
habit which belong peculiarly to themselves. 
Some of the rudest of them may easily enough 
be traced up to ancestral connexion with some 
one of the wild races; but the vast majority 
exhibit strong and intricate marks of a mixed 
descent; and some are, with good reason, sup- 
posed to show broad traces of a more or less free 
hybridizing with goats; and many or even most 
of the finer ones have resulted, either from a 
| series of crossings between previously well modi- 
fied breeds, or from the prolonged, steady, and 
combined influence of peculiar climate, peculiar 
food, and peculiar treatment. “ We may believe, 
then,” as Professor Low remarks, “that the do- 
mesticated sheep, the Ovis aries of naturalists, 
is a factitious species, and not one which has 
been called forth in the natural state. A species 
of this kind, however, having been formed, by 
whatever mixtures of blood, the members of it 
must have been subject, ike every other family 
| maixed or pure, to vary under the influence of 
_ external agencies; and thus, independently of 
| the differences produced by differences of origin, 
there are those which have been produced by 
climate, food, and domestication, giving rise to 
those great varieties which, even under the nar- 
rowest geographical limits, present themselves.” 
The longer, too, any species has been reduced to 
domestication, and the more complete its sub- 
servience to the human race, the greater and 
more remarkable will be the alterations. which 
it undergoes. We need not wonder, therefore, 
that the very ancient dependence of the sheep 
on man as its lord and master, should have 
caused many signal variations from the charac- 
ter of the original type, or that repeated changes 
of food and climate, and the continuous action 
of an altered and artificial mode of management, 
should have produced a multitude of new or 
anomalous features. We accordingly find that, 
in most of our subdued varieties, the lengthened 
limbs and comparatively slender, though strong, 
active, and graceful forms of the original races 
have disappeared, and been replaced by heavy 
proportions, and a consequently indolent disposi- 
tion,—and that the coarse, dry, brittle coating of 
hair has been succeeded by that woolly substance, 
of which human industry and ingenuity now form 
such abundant and manifold materials for the 
various uses of domestic economy, and the per- 
sonal comforts of our race. The prodigious de- 
velopment of the wool, and almost entire disap- 
pearance of the hair, would indeed of themselves 
have sufficed to effect a complete alteration in the’ 
general aspect and physiognomy of the species; 
and this remarkable change has been produced in 
part by physical causes, and in part by the agency 
of man, who, aiding or counteracting as he best 
SHEEP. 
138] 
could the observed tendencies of nature, has 
contrived to subordinate a general law of climate 
to his own individual advantage. 
The changes produced by domestication upon 
the dispositions and habits of the sheep are 
much greater than even those upon his physical 
properties, and render him eminently suitable 
to the uses of man, and adapted to the circum- 
stances of enclosed pastures and artificial feeding. 
“When once completely subjugated, he never 
again appears to acquire the faculties which fit 
him for a life of liberty. Give him afterwards 
what freedom we may, he remains more or less 
dependent upon us, and would fall a prey to 
wolves and the swifter ferze, were he not under 
human protection. Yet he is not the stupid and 
insensible creature which some represent him to 
be. When entirely subdued indeed, his natural 
instincts are blunted, and he loses the providence 
and sense of danger which are natural to him; 
but when left in a state of comparative liberty, 
as on the mountains of Scotland and Wales, he 
shows that, though comparatively feeble, he is 
not without the power of guarding himself from 
danger. When attacked by dogs or foxes, the 
flock forms a circle, with the rams in front, pre- 
senting a face to the enemy. The rams rush 
forward on the assailant, and strike him with 
their powerful horns; and in their contests with 
one another for the possession of the females, 
they fight with amazing determination, stunning 
one another with the violence of the shocks. 
The sheep is an exceedingly hardy animal with 
respect to temperature, his close covering of 
wool defending him well from cold. He foresees 
an impending fall of snow, and takes shelter 
from its violence. When buried underneath the 
snow, as he sometimes is, he often survives for 
many days, and even weeks, and may be digged 
up without injury, provided he have escaped 
suffocation; for in such a situation, his thick 
fleece, which, as well as the snow, is a slow con- 
ductor of heat, retains the natural warmth of 
the body in such a degree as to preserve life. 
The ewe bears that affection to her offspring 
which Nature has imprinted, as it were, on the 
heart of every animal. Should mishap befal her 
young one, she mourns over it, and will not be 
comforted; should it wander from her side, her 
anxious bleatings are everywhere heard,—and 
the little creature rewards her cares with sur- 
prising fondness, Who that has seen shearing 
of the flock, has not marked the startled aspect 
of the lamb when the mother first runs toward 
it divested of her covering, and how quickly it 
is reassured, and how sensibly it expresses its 
joy, when it hears the well-known voice, and re- 
ceives the wonted caresses! The sheep appears 
insensible and stupid, because it is rarely at- 
tached to us by acts of familiarity and kindness. 
| But let the orphan lamb be brought up at the 
shepherd’s cot, and fed from his hand, and we 
shall find it to be nearly as familiar as a dog,— 
