“Then I suppose we cannot find many stories of the intelligence of the sheep as we can of the dog, the elephant and the horse,” one of the youths remarked.
“We cannot,” was the reply, “but to offset the lack of sagacity in the sheep we have its patience and kindness of disposition, in which it is without a superior. The lamb has been in all ages the type of gentleness, and will probably continue so as long as man and the sheep exist together. He is also the type of playfulness, and there can be few more pleasing sights than that of a flock of lambs sporting on the grass or a single lamb playing among children by whom he is kept as a pet. I have somewhere read a story of a lamb that belonged to some children and went out with them one day as he had often done before. An hour or so later the 'lamb came to the house bleating loudly and evidently wishing to attract somebody's attention. When he obtained it he led the way to where the two children had fallen into a shallow well, and though not injured by the fall, which had only been a few feet, they were unable to get out. It seems they were standing on a plank which covered the well; the plank being old and rotten had given way beneath them, but as the well had been filled nearly to the top with earth they suffered no damage. In this case the lamb had the intelligence to understand that help was needed and he went to bring it.
“Sheep will sometimes display considerable cunning in getting into fields and pastures where they have no right to go. On the country farm where I lived when I was a boy we had a small flock of sheep; they were all stupid enough with the exception of one, that used to devote himself to hunting for weak places in the fence between the pasture where they ran and the adjoining field. It was what we called a 'brush' fence, and this mischievous animal used to walk along the line and survey it with great care. When he found what he thought was a weak place he would insert his head through the opening and work patiently till lie had enlarged it sufficiently to permit him to get through. Then the rest of the lot followed 'like a flock of sheep,' and when we went to drive them out the shrewd leader took them in a direction quite opposite to the opening. He seemed to understand that it would be blocked up as soon as discovered and he wanted to keep it for further use.”
Harry asked how many varieties of sheep there are in the world. He had looked through the works on natural history but was unable to find out.
“There are two great varieties,” answered George proudly, as he realized that he had come upon some information which had escaped his brother. “They are the long-wool and the short-wool,” said he, “the former being most useful for the production of meat and the latter for their wool. The long-wooled sheep have the wool straight or slightly curved while the short-wooled kind have it thick and curly. The Leicesters, Cotswolds, Scotch and Welsh breeds are of the long-wooled kind, while the Merino is the most noted of the other sort.”
