curved backwards, upwards, or to one side. The 
coat shows a beautiful adaptation to the rigours 
of the Icelandic @limate, and consists as it’ were 
of three layers,—long coarse hair, thick inter- 
mediate wool, and fine close interior down. The 
head, tail, and extremity of the limbs, are coy- 
ered with short hard hair. The hoofs are long, 
narrow, and irregular, in consequence of the ani- 
mals living so much among the soft snow, which 
scarcely wears them. ' Another breed, large and 
white, likewise occurs in Iceland, distinguished 
by the same peculiarities in the form and num- 
ber of the horns. This has probably been ob- 
tained by a cross from some continental race. 
The Icelanders feed their sheep, when the sum- 
mer crop happens to fail, on fish bones. They 
also observe that their flocks fatten rapidly 
when they can obtain a good supply of scurvy- 
grass. | 
The Wallachian sheep are also a strongly 
characterised European breed, and have been 
regarded by some authors as a distinct species. 
| The horns of the male are remarkable for their 
_ length and upright position, and form a complete 
_ spiral turn at their base, and then ascend spiral- 
| ly upwards ; 
| gent, and twisted on their own axes, 
| is long, coarse, and undulating ; the ears are 
| small and drooping; and the tail is long. 
and those of the female are diver- 
The fleece 
The 
general colour is white ; and the dimensions equal 
those of an ordinary sized sheep. This is a 
| handsome showy animal, common in Hungary 
| and Wallachia, from which numerous flocks are 
driven to the market of Vienna. Belonius says 
they occur in Crete ; and the ancients are sup-. 
posed to have described them under the name of 
Strepsiceros. 
The Merino or Spanish sheep is the most cele- 
brated of all the Huropean: ‘breeds. This variety 
is distinguished by the size and strength of its 
horns, which form a regular spiral turn on the 
sides of the head, and by its wool, twisted in 
cork-screw ringlets, and beautifully soft and fine. 
The breed, though said originally to have come 
from Barbary, is now widely spread, and in great 
perfection, over Spain; and many of the most 
esteemed of the French races owe their excellence 
to a preponderance of the Merino blood. There 
seem to be two principal kinds of sheep in Spain, 
—the coarse-woolled, which always remain in 
their native pastures, and are housed every night 
in winter,—and the fine-woolled, which are al- 
ways in the open air, and travel every summer 
from the cool mountains of the northern parts 
of Spain, to feed in winter on the southern and 
warmer plains of Andalusia, Mancha, and Hstre- 
madura. M. Bourgoanne, a French gentleman, 
who resided many years in Spain, gives the fol- 
lowing account of the wandering sheep of Sego- 
via: “It is in the neighbouring mountains that 
a part of the wandering sheep feed during the 
fine season. They leave them in the month of 
October, pass over those which separate the two 
SHEEP. 
turn in the month of April ; 
185 
Castiles, cross New Castile, and disperse them- 
selves in the plains of Hstremadura and Anda- 
lusia. For some years past, those of the two 
Castiles, which are within reach of the Sierra 
Morena, go thither to pass the winter, which, 
in that part of Spain, is more mild. The length 
of their day’s journey is in proportion to the pas- 
ture they meet with. They travel in flocks from 
1,000 to 1,200 in number, under the conduct of 
two shepherds, one of whom is called the Mayoral, 
the other the Zagal. When arrrived at the place 
of their destination, they are distributed in the 
pastures previously assigned them. They re- 
and, whether it be 
habit or natural instinct that draws them to- 
wards the climate which at this season becomes 
most proper for them, the inquietude which they 
manifest might, in case of need, serve as an al- 
manac to their conductors. The Leonese races 
(among which that called Cavagne is the most 
distinguished), after having been cantoned dur- 
ing the winter near Merida in Estremadura, on 
the left bank of the Guadiana, are marched about 
the 15th of April, in flocks of 2,000 and 3,000, 
across the Tagus at Almarez to Villa Castin, 
Trescasas, Alfaro, Espinar, and other stations, 
where their fleeces are shorn; and when this 
operation is completed, each division continues 
its route towards the province of Leon, where it 
is partitioned into flocks of 500 over the pastur- 
ages of Cervera, in the neighbourhood of Aquilar 
del Campo. The Soriane races, dwell during 
winter in the confines of Estremadura, Andalusia, 
and New Castile. Towards the end of April, 
they cross the Tagus, at Talaveyra de la Reyna, 
and the Puente del Arzobispo, when their march 
is directed towards Madrid, from whence they 
travel to Soria, where a portion is placed among 
the neighbouring mountains, and a portion 
crosses the Ebro, and is located on the pastures 
of Navarre and the Pyrenees. All these wan- 
dering races:are known under the general denomi- 
nation of Transhumante. The most esteemed 
among the stationary tribes, or Hstantes, dwell 
behind the gorges of the Guadarama and of Somo- 
sierra, and in the environs of Segovia, near cer- 
tain residences, called Hsquileos, where the sheep- 
shearing is carried on.” The Leonese excel all 
the other breeds, both in the form of their body 
and in the abundance and quality of the wool. 
_ The form of the Merino sheep does not accord 
with the English ideas of symmetrical propor- 
tion; and the pendulousness of its skin beneath 
the throat is particularly offensive to the eye of 
an English breeder ; but the fleece, besides being 
remarkable for its bulk and character, affords 
three distinct kinds of wool,—one from the back 
and belly, another from the neck and sides, and 
a third and coarsest from the breast, shoulder, 
and thighs. “The first impression made by the 
Merino sheep on one unacquainted with its value,” 
says Mr. Youatt, “ would be unfavourable. ‘lhe 
wool, lying closer and thicker over the body than 
