Ancon sheep

“ If a variation which approaches the nature of a monstrosity can strive thus forcibly to reproduce itself, it is not wonderful that less aberrant modifications should tend to be preserved even more strongly; and the history of the Ancon sheep is, in this respect, particularly instructive. With the "'cuteness" characteristic of their nation, the neighbours of the Massachusetts farmer imagined it would be an excellent thing if all his sheep were imbued with the stay-at-home tendencies enforced by Nature upon the newly-arrived ram ”

“ It is a more curious fact that the semi-monstrous ancon sheep of modern origin "have been observed to keep together, separating themselves from the rest of the flock, when put into enclosures with other sheep." ”

“ Multitudes, of what there is every reason to believe are such varieties, are known, but the origin of very few has been accurately recorded, and of these we will select two as more especially illustrative of the main features of variation. The first of them is that of the "Ancon," or "Otter" sheep, of which a careful account is given by Colonel David Humphreys, F.R.S., in a letter to Sir Joseph Banks, published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1813. ”

“ The crooked and shortened legs of the Ancon sheep of New England, frequently referred to by Darwin, also displayed the action of degeneration. This is a case which shows that disproportionate development in a single variety will produce divergence in the species, even when there is great proportionate development in the other varieties. ”

“ It is important to note that in these cases there is a psychological factor in evolution.
We have so far assumed that intercrossing of parents and interblending of their characters in the offspring always go together. This, we must now notice, is not always the fact. If a blue-eyed Saxon marry a dark-eyed Italian, the children will have blue eyes or dark eyes, not eyes of an intermediate tint. The characters do not interblend. The ancon, or otter-sheep, a breed with a long body and short, bandy legs, appeared in Massachusetts as [104] a chance sport in a single lamb. ”

“ No cause could be assigned for the appearance of this unusual variety of the human species.
Two circumstances are well worthy of remark in both these cases. In each, the variety appears to have arisen in full force, and, as it were, per saltum; a wide and definite difference appearing, at once, between the Ancon ram and the ordinary sheep; between the six-fingered and six-toed Gratio Kelleia and ordinary men. In neither case is it possible to point out any obvious reason for the appearance of the variety. ”

“ By continual selection of those with long bodies and short legs the ancon breed of sheep was finally produced. In 1770 in a herd of Paraguay cattle a hornless male calf appeared, and from this individual in a similar way came the stock of Muleys. ”

“ Their coarse hair is changed into fine wool; their tail, loaded with a lump of fat, has become so large and inconvenient a bulk, that the animal drags it along with pain and difficulty; and while thus charged with superfluous matter, and adorned with a beautiful fleece, their strength, agility, and weapons are diminished; for these broad and long-tailed sheep are scarcely half the size of the muflon; they cannot fly from danger, nor make resistance against an enemy; and are in continual need of the care and assistance of man to preserve and multiply their species. ”

“ In short, in the warmest countries of Africa and India, there is a breed of large sheep with rough hair, short horns, hanging ears, and a kind of dewlap under the neck. This sheep, Leo Africanus, and Marmol call adimain, and it is known to the naturalists by the names of the Senegal ram, the Guinea ram, the Angola sheep, &c. He is domestic, like ours, and like him, subject to varieties. ”

“ Wearied by its journey, and perhaps wounded by its falls, the sheep, when discovered, cannot return to the fold even under the shepherd’s guidance; he takes it on his shoulders and bears the burden home. He does not upbraid it for its straying; he does not complain of its weight. He is glad that he has gotten his own again, after it was “ready to perish.” Happy while he bears it homeward, and happy when he has gotten it home, he invites all his neighbours to share in his joy. ”

“ When the fleece is mature the animal is often burdened with a load about as heavy in proportion to his size as is a horse by the weight of its rider and accoutrements.
As a flesh producer, particularly in sterile fields, sheep are more valuable than our horned cattle. They mature more rapidly, attaining their adult size and reproducing their kind in less than two years, so that in many parts of the world it is possible to obtain a larger quantity of flesh from poor pasturages with sheep than with any other of our domesticated animals. ”

“ Half a score horsemen ride here and there upon the flanks, with three others in advance; and bringing up the rear is a drove of milch cows—some with calves at the foot—and a flock of fat-tailed sheep, their tails full fifty pounds in weight, and trailing on the ground.
The cows and sheep are in charge of ten or a dozen dark-skinned herdsmen, most of them all but naked; while a like number of large wolfish-looking dogs completes the list of living things visible outside the waggons. ”

“ Ezra L'Hommedieu, Vice-president of the Agricultural Society of New York, collected, in the year 1800, a great many observations on the breeding of sheep, and came to the conclusion, that changing and crossing the breed of the animals is a matter of great importance, in preventing a dwindling and degeneracy of the flock. Dr Coventry, in his pamphlet on Live-Stock, gives it as his opinion, that "The most perfect race of animals may be debased by improper mixture, or injured by improper treatment. ”

“ In much of the West and South, beef alone is the principal object; while the dairy is neglected, and the work of the ox is seldom relied on, except for occasional drudgery.
Sheep may be wanted almost exclusively for the fleece, or for the fleece and heavy mutton, or in the neighborhood of markets, for large early lambs. The pastures and winter food, climate, and other conditions, present additional circumstances, which should be well considered before determining on the particular breed, either of cattle or sheep, that will best promote the interest of the farmer. ”

“ Sheep, like “Miss Cowslip,” are as tall and slender as a poplar. Their wool falls off as they gain maturity, and is succeeded by short stiff hairs, like a goat. Many of them are so spotted and marked, that they might be taken for spaniel dogs, were it not for their length of legs, and sheepish visage. ”

“ So far as concerns conformation, a sheep should have a round barrel, wool thick and soft and with long fibre, and, while heavy all over the body, it should be thickest on the back and neck, and yet the belly also should be covered, for unless the belly was covered our ancestors were wont to call a sheep apica and throw it out. They should have short legs, [118] and, if they are of the Italian breed, long tails, or short tails if they come from Syria. The most important point to guard is that your flock is headed by a good sire. ”

“ Of Mammalia, three species of Antelope, one of Hyrax, one of Equus (Onager) , one of Sus (Phacochaerus) ; and fresh holes in the sand indicated the presence of animals most probably of the order Rodentia.
The sheep of the country are the Hejáz lamb (Ovis aries laticaudata) ; white body and black head and neck, covered with hair, and having thick, short, fat tails; male without horns. The goats and cattle are generally small in stature, of all colours, and surmounted with very large horns. ”

“ They are also more prolific, generally producing two lambs at a time. The rams of this breed engender with the common ewes and produce an intermediate race. In Italy and Spain there is a great variety in their races of sheep, but they should all be regarded as forming one species with our common sheep, which though so numerous does not extend beyond Europe. Those animals with large broad tails, so common in Asia and Africa, and which travellers have given the name of Barbary sheep, appear to be of different species from our common sheep, as well as from the pacos and lama of America. ”

“ In past times it did for the improvement of the shortwool breeds of sheep very much the same kind of work that the Leicester performed in the case of the longwool breeds. A pure-bred Southdown sheep has a small head, with a light brown or brownish grey (often mouse-coloured) face, fine bone, and a symmetrical, well-fleshed body. The legs are short and neat, the animal being of small size compared with the other Down sheep. The fleece is of fine, close, short wool, and the mutton is excellent. ”

“ The crumen or suborbital face-gland, which is so largely developed and probably performs the same office in some antelopes and deer, is present, although in a comparatively rudimentary form, in most species, but is absent in others. Wild sheep attain their maximum development, both in respect of number and size, in Central Asia. They associate either in large flocks, or in family-parties; the old males generally keeping apart from the rest. Although essentially mountain animals, sheep generally frequent open, undulating districts, rather than the precipitous heights to which goats are partial. ”

“ Its most notable success in recent years is on the Scottish and English borders, where, at the annual ram sales at Kelso, a greater number of rams is auctioned of this than of any other breed, to cross with flocks of Leicester-Cheviot ewes especially, but also with Border Leicesters and three-parts-bred ewes. It is supplanting the Border Leicester as a sire of mutton sheep; for, although its progeny is slower in reaching maturity, tegs can be fed to greater weights in spring—65 to 68 ℔ per carcass—without becoming too fat to be classed as finest quality. ”

“ Oxen and cows will not fatten by themselves; but will neglect the finest pasture that is not recommended by society. It would be needless to instance in sheep, which constantly flock together.
But this propensity seems not to be confined to animals of the same species; for we know a doe still alive, that was brought up from a little fawn with a dairy of cows; with them it goes afield, and with them it returns to the yard. The dogs of the house take no notice of this deer, being used to her; but, if strange dogs come by, a chase ensues ”

“ He barks at night in mid-winter days—and spreads uneasiness among sheep, as betrayed by the bleating of ewes. He digs in a way all his own, throwing out the soil behind him in a slovenly heap; he noses about mole-heaps and ant-hills, and his visit is easily detected. On soft spots he leaves his footmarks—and he always leaves his scent behind him. ”

“ When they succeed in stealing sheep, a warm suit is immediately improvised by stripping the skin from the animal and investing their own bodies within its fleecy folds. A few thin strings of hide serve to connect the skins and form a robe. When the rascals have time to make their arrangements, the sheep are formed in a parallelogram, the width of which never exceeds thirty feet, with a length sufficient to accommodate the flock. ”

“ Their bodies are light, their legs long, and their habits of that unquiet kind which renders them hostile to any thing like restraint. It is for these reasons, that when once a flock attaches itself to a range of hills, and becomes suited to the means of subsistence, it may preserve itself for ages apart from neighbouring varieties, and present, after a long series of years, those qualities in their native purity for which it was noted by the earliest observers. The sheep of a level country are distinguished, on the contrary, by heavy bodies, short legs, and easy tempers. ”

“ A glance will likewise reveal to him every defect in form, previously concealed, wholly, or in part, by the wool, as soon as the newly-shorn sheep is permitted to stand up on its feet. A remarkably choice ewe is frequently retained until she dies of old age; a rather poor nurse or breeder is excluded for the slightest fault, and so on. Whatever animals are to be excluded, may be marked on the shoulder with Venetian red and hog’s lard, conveniently applied with a brush or cob. ”

“ The raising of live stock is rigorously pursued. Shorthorns and polled Angus are the commonest breeds of cattle; the sheep are mostly Cheviots and a Cheviot-Leicester cross, but the native sheep are still reared in considerable numbers in Hoy and South Ronaldshay, pigs are also kept on several of the islands, and the horses—as a rule hardy, active and small, though larger than the famous Shetland ponies—are very numerous, but mainly employed in connexion with agricultural work. ”

“ It cannot subsist in very cold countries, though a breed of sheep is to be found in cold climates; especially in Iceland, who have many horns, [61] short tails, and harsh thick wool, under which, as in almost every animal in the north is a second lining, of a softer, finer, and thicker wool. In warm countries, on the contrary, the sheep have generally short horns and a long tail, some of which are covered with wool, others with hair, and a third kind with a mixture of wool and hair. ”

“ The smaller the quantity of tar employed, as consistent with the keeping down of vermin, so much the better, as the wool is of more value to the manufacturer, the sheep is saved the discomfort of having its fleece plastered and matted, and the shepherd is spared the vexation of losing lambs through their inability to reach an udder surrounded by locks of hard and tangled wool. ”