The stormy March is come at last,
With wind and cloud and changing skies;
I hear the rushing of the blast,
That through the snowy valley flies.
Ah, passing few are they who speak,
Wild, stormy month, in praise of thee;
Yet, though thy winds are loud and bleak,
Thou art welcome month to me.
For thou, to Northern lands again,
The glad and glorious sun dost bring,
And thou hast joined the gentle train
And wear’st the gentle name of Spring.
And, in thy reign of blast and storm,
Smiles many a long, bright sunny day,
When the changed winds are soft and warm,
And heaven puts on the blue of May.
Then sing aloud the gushing rills
And the full springs, from frosts set free,
That, brightly leaping down the hills,
Are just sent out to meet the sea.
The year’s departing beauty hides
Of wintry storms the sullen threat;
But in thy sternest frown abides
A look of kindly promise yet.
Thou bring’st the hope of those calm skies,
And that soft time of many showers,
When the wide bloom, on earth that lies,
Seems of a brighter world than ours.
—Royal Arcanum.
[Illustration: DOMESTIC SHEEP.
(Ovis aries.)
ADAPTED FROM A PAINTING BY FRED. WILLIAMSON.]
THE DOMESTIC SHEEP.
(_Ovis aries._)
It was a little strip of fur which adorned a lady’s cloak. It was soft
and warm and black and curly. The lady called it astrakhan, but the
sheep, whose lamb met an early death that its pleasing fine coat might
become the covering of someone in far away America, still lives on the
steppes of the Far East. Her master and herder belong to one of the
wandering tribes which roam about Central Asia. Had the lamb lived to
maturity its beautiful fine coat would have changed to coarse hair, very
unlike the wool of the sheep we find in America. It would have grown to
a large size; it would have had short horns, a very short, flat tail,
with great bunches of fat on the haunches at either side.
There would have been among its companions some sheep entirely white;
others white with black heads; but in its immediate family all would
have been black throughout.
Imagine the little lamb taking the journey across the Eastern continent!
Should we follow it in its journey we would find many interesting
varieties of its kind. In crossing Syria and Asia Minor we would find
the curious, flat-tailed sheep; their tails are most remarkable to one
unaccustomed to the sight, for they are long masses of fat, sometimes
weighing forty or fifty pounds, and often trailing upon the ground. In
this case they are frequently supported by little sledges to relieve the
animal of its burden. It seems impossible to understand why these tails
should grow to this inconvenient and enormous length, when other breeds
near by have practically no tails at all.
Leaving the country of the broad-tailed sheep and passing along the
south of Europe, we find in Spain a very important and interesting
variety, the Merino sheep. While in the mountains of Spain they are
found in the greatest perfection, the breed has spread over many parts
of Europe and has been introduced into South Africa, America and
Australia. It is noted for the fineness of its wool and is considered by
many to be the most profitable of all sheep.
For some reason the Merino sheep has not found favor in the British
isles, but we find there many other well known round-tailed varieties.
The Shetland and Orkney breeds have in their fleece soft, fine wool,
largely intermixed with hair. They are of small size and horns may be
found on both sexes, although they may be lacking in the ewes.
The soft-wooled sheep of Scotland are a breed nearly extinct; they have
short horns, lank bodies and short wool.
In Wales we find two races of small size; one lives in the higher
mountains, is dark in color, has much hair mixed with soft wool, and
horns are found on both sexes. The other race is without horns and is
covered with a soft wool. Both varieties are hardy and are noted for
their fine flesh.
The Irish Wicklow sheep were originally very similar to the Welsh
variety. Among other Irish breeds the Kerry is best known. It is wild in
disposition, larger than the Welsh sheep, with the horns frequently
absent in the ewes.
The hardiest and boldest of all the British races are the black-faced
Heath breed; these have dark colored limbs and faces and coarse and
shaggy fleeces.
The Cheviot breed are hornless, with white limbs and faces; they are
heavier than the Heath breed, but have less endurance.
The old Norfolk breed of the east of England are strong and active, with
horns, which are thick and spiral in the rams; the body and limbs are
long, the face and legs black, and the silky wool is of medium length.
The Dartmoor and Exmoor sheep are “the breeds of the older forests,
commons and chases.” They are of small size, may or may not have horns,
have dark or gray faces and have wool of medium length.
The well known Southdowns have no horns; they have dark brown faces,
ears and limbs; the head is always comparatively small, the lower jaws
are thin and fine and the space between the ears is well covered with
wool.
The Dorset and pink-nosed Somerset breed are in the southwest of
England. They are known by their long white limbs and their white faces;
the muzzle is sometimes flesh-colored and the wool is of medium length.
Then there are the various long-wooled sheep of which the new Leicester
breed is considered first in respect to form and ability to fatten
readily. Other long-wooled sheep are the Lincolnshire, the Romney Marsh,
the Cotswold, the Devonshire, the Notts and the long-wooled Irish
breeds.
There are other breeds less well known and less important, but the
breeds of the British isles are by no means confined to that locality.
They have been taken to the United States and to other countries. In
fact, some variety of domestic sheep can be found in every land, and no
animal is more useful to its owner.
In spite of the various breeds, the characteristics of all domestic
sheep are similar. They have not the courage and independence of their
cousins, the wild sheep of the mountains. These delight to roam to the
highest altitudes, some species being found as high as 22,000 feet above
the level of the sea. No other animal save the musk ox and the mountain
goat can exist at this height. Doubtless the domestic sheep would thrive
better if it could escape the low levels and the plains, for, like the
wild sheep, it is a mountain-loving creature. It has adapted itself to
the lower altitude, but at a great loss of its original characteristics.
It has to an extreme extent become a dependent animal, unable to care
for itself, totally lacking in courage and resources, very easily
frightened and without marked character. An entire flock is easily
startled by any unusual noise; thunder and lightning completely
unsettles them, and human efforts to quiet them often prove unavailing.
Brehm tells us that “on the steppes of Russia and Asia the shepherds
often have the most arduous tasks in preserving their charges. During a
snowstorm or thunderstorm the panicstricken flocks disperse in a wild
stampede, rushing out into the wastes of the steppe like senseless
creatures, and then resignedly suffer themselves to be snowed under or
to freeze without making any attempt to shelter themselves from the
storm or even to seek for food.” In Russia a goat is generally used as a
leader for a flock of sheep, but even a goat is not always able to keep
the stupid animals under proper guidance. During a thunderstorm they
huddle together and cannot be made to move. “If lightning strikes into
the flock,” says Lenz, “many are killed at once; if fire breaks out in
the sheepfold the sheep do not run out, but, on the contrary, sometimes
rush into the fire.” The best manner of rescuing sheep from a burning
fold or structure is to let the sheep dog to which they are accustomed,
drive them out.
To a certain degree, however, the sheep exhibits mental capacity. It
learns to know its keeper, obeys his call and displays a certain amount
of affection and docility towards him. It seems to have a liking for
music, or at least it patiently and passively listens to the bagpipe
playing of the shepherd, and it has evidently some premonition of
impending changes in the weather.
Sheep thrive best on a diet of various dried plants. The botanist
Linnæus states that they “feed on three hundred and twenty-seven of the
common Central European plants, avoiding one hundred and forty-one.
Ranunculus, cypress spurge, meadow-saffron, shave-grass, wild cabbage or
skunk cabbage and rushes are poison to it. It is fond of salt and fresh
drinking water is necessary to its well being.”
The mother usually gives birth to but one lamb, although occasionally
there are more. The little creature must first have human care, but
later they are permitted to follow their mother, which shows great
affection for her offspring.
A sheep may live to be fourteen years of age, though at nine or ten
years it will lose most of its teeth and cannot maintain itself by
grazing.
John Ainslie.